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Archive for the ‘Depression & Suicide’ Category

Trauma and Resilience

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Trauma and Resilience Trauma is not necessarily what comes to mind when one thinks of lawyers and judges. Yet a surprising number of us come from traumatic backgrounds and childhoods. In fact, many folks who enter the legal profession do so precisely because of the historic trauma we have experienced. Maybe we want to work […]

No One is Coming

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At the start, it was a starburst of luminous warmth. It was fun, it was freeing, it was sophisticated. It was summer beers, sunset champagne toasts, French martinis and obscure Italian wines. I started drinking because it made me relaxed and connected and in love. I felt closer to people around me, to myself, to […]

Weather Patterns

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By Robynn Moraites Why do some lawyers find it easier to kill themselves than to admit they are unhappy and need to make a change? This may seem like an overly dramatic opening to an article about lawyer mental health, but it reflects the urgency I feel about bringing to light the importance of an […]

Self-Care vs. Car Wrecks: A Compassion Fatigue Story

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By Anonymous   I am smart. I really enjoy using my smarts to solve problems: logic problems, crossword puzzles, strangers needing directions, my clients’ problems, my friends’ problems, and my family’s problems. But, fixing problems has a sinister side, just like any addiction, and one can develop compassion fatigue. The best way to explain “compassion […]

What’s Mindfulness Got to Do with It?

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By Laura Mahr   After six weeks of Mindfulness Meditation for Building Resilience to Stress, lawyers from the 28th Judicial District Bar have the answer…   There are few things we lawyers love more than our brains. Which is why, when our brains tell us we are tired, most of us lawyers tell our brains […]

Messy, Unruly, Chaotic Life

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After working at the NC Lawyer Assistance Program (LAP) for the past 5 years, I can say with confidence that most of what we see clinically is lawyers’ and judges’ responses to the serious difficulties of life and a career in law. Not that there isn’t true psychopathology, because there certainly is. But it is […]

Stress, Burnout & Balance

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Practicing law is stressful. Practicing medicine is stressful, too, but there is a difference, as illustrated in this example we often use in our CLE presentations: As a lawyer, you are like a brain surgeon. Imagine the patient is laid out on the table in front of you. It is your job to operate and […]

Positive Psychology for Lawyers—The Benefits of Positive Emotions

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The emerging scientific field known as positive psychology helps us understand how the brain can change, and that we can purposefully change it to create more positive emotions. Positive emotions, in turn, broaden our cognitive capacity, allowing flexible, open-minded thinking for creative problem solving and building of personal resources such as skills, knowledge, and relationships. […]

How I Almost Became Another Lawyer Who Killed Himself 

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The legal profession has a problem. Lawyers are suffering and, far too often, they are taking their own lives. Lawyers, as a group, are 3.6 times more likely to suffer from depression than the average person. A John Hopkins study found that of 104 occupations, lawyers were the most likely to suffer depression. Further, according […]