Professional Well-Being

Professional Well-Being: Enhancing WellnessAmong Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and MentalHealth Clinicians is an excellent resource for mapping out wellness throughout one’s career as aclinician. The book begins with the stressors andmental health concerns that arise early in trainingas a medical student and continues on the paththrough graduate residency training and throughout various stages of the clinician’s career. Thechronological and developmental nature of howwellness is discussed is very helpful and relatable.There is also substantial focus on wellness andnonclinical aspects of taking care of one’s mentalhealth as well as more clinical approaches, whichcreates a balanced perspective. For example, theauthors emphasize mentorship, informal consultation, and various lifestyle approaches as nonclinical ways to promote wellness. Considerableattention is devoted to the clinical sequalae experienced by clinicians, including burnout, depressivesymptoms, and suicidal thoughts. Sufficient attention is also given to the potentially deleteriousimpact a lack of well-being in a clinician can haveon patient/client care.Some of the strengths of Professional Well-Beingare the details that encourage the reader to thinkcritically about the complexity of treating mentalhealth issues among clinicians. For example, thechapter on considerations for providing care to fellowclinicians is helpful as it provides details on ethicalconsiderations, flexibility in scheduling, and how toapproach therapy without making assumptions thatcould interfere with the therapeutic process. Anotherchapter focuses on building support within systems,highlighting some of the unique challenges (eg, isolation, lack of autonomy) that may arise dependingon the setting where the clinician works, such asprivate practice, hospital, or school system. Thechapter focusing on stressors associated with variouscareer milestones is also quite helpful and encourages clinicians to think about wellness over thecourse of their entire training and career.Other strengths of this book include the broadrange of interventions discussed. The chaptersfocusing on wellness and self-care highlight a numberof useful approaches, including energy management,time in nature, and mindfulness. Engagement inhealth-promoting behaviors, such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, and social connectedness, are addressed.However, the book also discusses the point whenmental health needs reach a higher threshold, and itcovers topics related to impairment and recovery.This book will be appealing to clinicians in themental health field (eg, psychiatrists, psychiatricnurse practitioners, psychologists, mental healthcounselors, and clinical social workers). I think thebook could offer benefit to an even broader readership, such as family physicians, internists, or thosewho practice lifestyle medicine and who treat a highvolume of patients with mental health issues.Questions and vignettes throughout the book makethe chapters more experiential. From my perspective, this book could have been strengthened byincluding even more self-disclosures and personalcase examples. The preface starts with salient examples that are extremely relatable to clinicianspracticing in the mental health field and more ofsuch examples throughout the later chapters wouldhave been helpful.In summary, Professional Well-Being: EnhancingWellness Among Psychiatrists, Psychologists, andMental Health Clinicians is a great resource forclinicians. I recommend reading it early duringtraining because many of the resources and strategies described are preventive and promote positivemental health. However, it is applicable to clinicians at any level including those who are moreadvanced in the profession. The focus of the book onwell-being is especially timely as the COVID-19pandemic continues. COVID and the associated lossand uncertainty have created more demand andneed for mental health care which in turn createsincreased stress, greater work demands, and risk ofburnout for providers. This book is a great reminderto all clinicians—especially those treating patientsand clients with mental health concerns—not toforget about their own wellness and to make ita priority so that they may provide the best carepossible.

Grace W. Gengoux, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is a Clinical Associate Professorin the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California.

Sanno E. Zack, Ph.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California.

Jennifer L. Derenne, M.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California.

Athena Robinson, Ph.D., is Chief Clinical Officer at Woebot Labs, Inc. in San Francisco, California.

Laura B. Dunn, M.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California.

Laura Weiss Roberts, M.D., M.A., is Chairman and Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine; Editor-in-Chief of the journal Academic Medicine; and Editor-in-Chief, Books, at American Psychiatric Association Publishing in Washington, D.C.