Break the Silence: Let’s Talk About Mental Health

“The legal fraternity stands as a beacon of hope, a knight in shining armour, a flagbearer of justice to give an ear to the cry of the litigants. An outsider is often as oblivious about the human behind the lawyer as he is about the working of the judicial system. The successful lawyer is the face he sees not knowing the midnight oil burnt that wrinkled those brows, the long battle to the top, the skills honed over decades. The struggle of the young lawyer often remains unknown and unattended.”¹

As beautifully explained by the authors of “Musing on Mental Health: Bench and the Bar”², the position that the legal fraternity beholds in the society often overshadow the daily struggle that a lawyer or any person working in this profession encounters – be it endless working hours, tight deadlines, cut-throat competition, pressure of meeting expectations of the clients while dealing with inextricable stress which comes complimentarily with the burden of taking high-stakes decisions.

The endless race to the pinnacle of this profession has created a taboo around any discussion regarding the mental health of lawyers, Judges, fresh graduates and especially young adults who comes under enormous amount of stress on the first day they enter a law school. Research suggests that “you start thinking like a lawyer and start absorbing the cultural norms of the law on the very first day of your law degree”.³ By following the footsteps of their seniors, students often accept these societal norms believing to be a part of their decision to become a lawyer one day. However, they are never taught how important it is to have a good work-life balance.

It always has been hard to talk about the darker side of the profession with reference to how criminal lawyers have to relive and retell the incidents of heinous and traumatic crimes, about how a human right or a family lawyer has to deal with cases which leaves an impact on their personal lives pushing an individual to experience early burnouts and severe mental hardships like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), stress, and addiction issues.

However, in the cauldron of professional life, these mental health issues are often brushed under the carpet. Conversations about mental sanity and stability has been stigmatised because individuals often find themselves unable to express or share their emotions as they would not want to jeopardise their reputation and perception of a mental “fitness” to be a lawyer.

What do the numbers say?

The first study which was conducted with the aim of providing a comprehensive estimate of the prevalence and disease burden due to all mental disorders for every State of India from 1990 to 2017⁴, reported that one in seven Indians were affected by mental disorders of varying severity in 2017.⁵

Depression and anxiety constitute the major bulk of mood disorders affecting the general population.⁶ Often, these issues are hidden in shadows and stigmatised. Little do we know that many a times, a spouse, parent, sibling, other relative or a friend is fighting this daily battle.

Lawyers are no exception to this battle. There has been a number of surveys among Judges, attorneys, solicitors, associates, fresh graduates and even law students in the recent years.

In 2021, the well-being charity LawCare conducted a study “life in law”⁷ among 1,700 lawyers and legal practitioners working in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of man with the aim to take a snapshot of mental health and well-being in the legal profession.⁸ However, the results were horrifying with respect to how 69% of them had experienced mental ill-health including anxiety, low mood, and depression in the 12 months prior to completing the survey leaving them at a high risk of burnout early in their lives.⁹ Where, the increased pressure becomes inversely proportional to the productivity of an employee.

The CEO of the organisation, Elizabeth Rimmer concluded the study by remarking that – “There presents robust evidence towards how the legal profession is stressed, tired, at high risk of burnout and the working practices in the law that undermine mental health need to change.”¹⁰

Furthermore, the statistics of another 2021 survey conducted by the American Bar Association, revealed that lawyers were stressed out before the onset of COVID-19 and the pandemic.¹¹ More than a third (40%) reported that due to the pandemic, their overall work-related stress levels were increased.¹² The report¹³ also threw some lights on the pressures of practising law. The researchers were of the opinion that lawyers rarely cut themselves a break. As according to their research more than 60% of individuals¹⁴ either work long hours or fail to take adequate breaks during the workday. Whereas 9% of the professionals¹⁵ confirmed that “they never stop working”.

However, this is not limited to the professionals, the American Bar Associations also conducted a research among law students in 2017.¹⁶ The findings of this research were devastating as it indicated that out of 3,300 law students who were questioned, 25% were at risk of alcoholism; 17% were suffering from depression; 37% student report mild to severe anxiety and 6% even had suicidal thoughts during the academic semester.¹⁷

These young adults, especially, fresh graduates, by following the example of their seniors indulge themselves in extreme workload, long working hours, while they experience struggle of travelling far away from home to build a career. Subsequently, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, PTSD, addiction, eating disorder and sleepless nights which complimentarily comes along the way often gets overlooked, thus leaving a major impact on their intra-personal lives and well-being at a very young age.

A step forward

Any organisation can only stay functional relying on having a healthy and productive workforce. Often the mental well-being of the employees is ignored as it cannot be easily recognised like a physical injury.

Even though, after the COVID-19 Pandemic, people have started acknowledging issues associated with mental health; the disturbing reality is the stigma around mental illness that remains a significant barrier to treatment within the legal profession¹⁸ to the extent that when people find that someone has a mental health issue, there is immediate labelling of the person concerned, as being “off”/“unbalanced”, et cetera”.¹⁹ This leaves Individuals who are reluctant to seek help, under the impression that it might pose as a potential threat to their admission to bar and a threat to their current /future job or academic status and social pressure.²⁰

#TimeToTalk

#TimeToTalk is a campaign that started in the UK, after a survey which indicated that more than a third of 2500 people could never find the right time and the right place to raise their intra-personal problems related to work, their career and their life.²¹

This campaign was started by LawCare, a legal mental health charity, with the aim of helping solicitors and barristers by providing a helpline for them to contact if they were dealing with depression, anxiety, bereavement, financial as well as career development problems and the workplace stress.

The organisation, through this campaign, allows those who have suffered – and who continue to suffer – to share their account of what it is like to live with mental health issues and see that it is okay to speak about them.²²

In India, there exists hardly any support services and/or groups for people working in this field to access when they are having a hard time coping with their normal lives. Providing platforms like such, not only help a person emotionally but also leave a major impact psychologically. Because sometimes, all a person wants is someone to whom they can vent.

“As long as you have someone you can speak with, or you can vent to, the chances are you may be able to understand and put your issues at hand in perspective, or at least not do too much damage to yourself.”

– Justice Rajiv Shakdher, in an interview with Sumeet Malik, Radhika Bishwajit Dubey and Bhumika Indulia (SCC Online)²³

However, having that said, relying on the saying “charity begins as home”, the author of this article is of the belief that the first step to address the issue in question would be for the employers to proactively reach out to their employees by offering supportive resources that reconceptualise dealing with stress and work pressure.²⁴ According to a recent survey²⁵, 74% of the people working in this profession around the world indicated that work environment plays a major role in contribution to their mental health issues.

There is a need for everyone to exhibit compassion and empathy towards this network. Small changes in a workplace can go a long way as it will help in maintaining the stability and growth of that organisation. Employers should freely talk about the importance of a healthy mind by taking an honest, open communication approach by sharing their own experiences and to offer the right support, if anyone in the team experiences mental distress.²⁶ Simply asking “how are you?” can highlight the early signs of depression and anxiety and help the employers to determine what practical steps they can take to support their employees.²⁷

Taking the broader perspective

“Mental illnesses can be debilitating and destructive”²⁸ as observed by the High Court of New Delhi in 2021 in Shikha Nischal v. National Insurance Co. Ltd.²⁹ It has given rise to a need to openly discuss systemic challenges faced by individuals in this profession, the impact on one’s emotional health and well-being because “the more discussion you have about mental health issues in different forums, the less stigma will be attached to someone suffering from mental health issues”.³⁰

A number of countries have started taking an initiative towards providing mental health resources to the legal profession. For example, the American Bar Association through its “Commission on Lawyer Assistance Program (CoLAP)” works for the well-being of individuals working in this profession by ensuring that every Judge, lawyer and law student has access to support and assistance when confronting alcoholism, substance use disorders or mental health issues.³¹

Therefore, the India Bar Councils should regularly conduct talks, conferences, and seminars to initiate a conversation regarding the importance of good sanity and a healthy mind. The Councils shall also make efforts to provide programs, such as counselling, lawyer assistance programs providing confidential services and support to lawyers, Judges, young adults, and students facing professional as well as personal issues.

It has become necessary now more than ever to start a conversation about mental health where we begin to consider the most common and generalised issues including stress, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks as a real problem which is going to increase in the future, if ignored.

Firms, chambers, and individual lawyers can and must do more to help their colleagues, partners, associates and most importantly interns by creating an interactive office environment because young minds should be prepared for the demands of this challenging profession.

Thus, to sum up everything that has been stated so far, everyone should be provided with a safe, confidential and stigma free platform where they can freely talk about their emotions and the difficulties, they are facing both personally and professionally. Be it an employer or an employee, it should thoroughly be conveyed to everyone working in the profession that “mental health matters”.