Veterinarian Mental Well-being
A brief review in 2025
Veterinarians’ poor mental health and well-being not only impact themselves but can also have perceived negative impacts on interactions with clients, teamwork, concentration, and decision-making, all of which can decrease the quality of care that patients receive.
From the employers’ perspective, the veterinarians’ poor mental health and well-being increase the chances of absenteeism, attrition, and turnover, which could present significant economic costs.
A study in 2022 estimated that the turnover and reduced working hours caused by burnout contributed to at least $1 - 2 billion in lost revenue annually in the U.S.
In 1980, Blair and Hayes discovered that veterinary professionals had higher suicide rates compared to the average population. Over 40 years and potentially hundreds of published studies later, what have we learned? And, more importantly, where are we headed next?
Adverse effects of being a veterinarian
Firstly, we’ve learned the common “adverse mental health outcomes” associated with being a veterinary professional (not unlike those of the drugs that vets prescribe to their patients). Those include stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout, to name a few.
We’ve learned that suicide and suicidal ideation remain prevalent in the profession, despite efforts from organizations such as Not One More Vet (NOMV) and others. Though we believe the situation to have improved, we currently don’t have the research to support it.
We’ve also learned that these concerns exist in many countries around the world, as reported in, for example, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. It’s important to highlight that the absence of reports in other countries does not mean the concerns do not exist, but that they were simply not reported.
… but why?
These “adverse mental health outcomes” have been found to be tied to occupational stressors such as long work hours, poor work-life balance, professional mistakes, unexpected outcomes, and ethical dilemmas.
Newer studies have shown that the leadership and team environment play a pivotal role in making these stressors better or worse. For example, a focus group with veterinary technicians revealed that teams with toxic work environments also came with excessive workload, leading to burnout and staff turnover.
Shifting away from the adverse outcomes
While previous research has done a lot to uncover the concerns of mental health and well-being in the profession, there has been a collective shift to move away from that narrative.
In 2017, Cake advocated for more research that focuses on the positive aspects of veterinary work (which has always been eclipsed by the negatives in the past). A lot of veterinarians (myself included) love the profession, despite all the adverse effects that may come with it.
Like most prescription drugs, pharmaceutical corporations innovate newer generations of drugs that become more effective while reducing the adverse effects. What if we could do the same for the veterinary profession?
As mental wellness practices and positive psychology become more mainstream, they have spilled over into veterinarian mental health as well. For example, my team has published research articles on meaningful work and emotional intelligence.
As we move forward, I hope to see more research on the positive aspects of veterinary work and how we can make the profession more positive for everyone.
References
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