Lawyers report stress, drinking and gambling in new attorney mental health study

By Karen Sloan Oct 13 (Reuters) — More than half of lawyers surveyed in Illinois reported persistent stress in a new study of attorney mental health challenges, with excessive workloads and feeling unappreciated emerging as the most commonly cited negative factors about their jobs. The Illinois Lawyers Assistance Program surveyed more than 6,700 lawyers on well-being issues ranging from mental health and stress levels to alcohol and drug use — the first such comprehensive survey among the state’s more than 56,000 attorneys, researchers said. The results, released Tuesday, show that lawyers face barriers in seeking help for those challenges, primarily out of fear of professional repercussions. “People don’t come forward when they feel it will be used against them or that it’s such a taboo subject that they feel they can’t talk about it,” said Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary O’Brien in the report. According to the authors, the Illinois study is the first anywhere to examine the prevalence of gambling in the US legal profession. Among the survey respondents, 3% reported engaging in problem gambling, with 53% of those respondents reported gambling at least once a week and 12% gambl