Introduction

Depression is a mental disorder characterized by loss of interest and pleasure, decreased energy, guiltiness or low self-esteem, disturbed sleep and/or appetite, and poor concentration^[1]. Depression is a common medical condition affecting more than 264 million people worldwide and is considered one of the leading causes of disability^[2]. As per the literature, the lifetime rate of developing depression across the Asia Pacific region ranges from 1.1% to 19.9%^[3]. Belonging to a special occupation population, physicians undertake the responsibility of healing the wounded, rescuing the dying, and facing suffering, illness, and death daily. Therefore, physicians are at risk of suffering from mental illness^[4]. The prevalence rates of depressive symptoms among healthcare providers are comparable to those of the general population. In a systematic review including studies from 15 countries (seven European, four Asian, and four Middle East countries) the estimated overall pooled depressive symptoms prevalence was 28.8% among residents physicians, ranging from 20.9 to 43.2% according to the tool used^[5].

Physicians suffering from mental illness not only experience a decrease in their quality of life but also increase the probability of committing medical mistakes and threatening the safety of treated patients^[6]. Hence, how to decrease depression symptoms among doctors is important not only for physicians themselves but also for the health status of the general population. Mental health issues of physicians are mostly over-looked not only by the public but even by the physicians themselves. This might be due to the fact that physicians are overconfident and think they can protect themselves well, so they are often reluctant to seek help^[7,8]. Even though appreciable work has been carried out in developed countries to evaluate the psychological status of physicians, yet developing countries considerably lag^[9].

Over the years, a body of evidence had illustrated the factors associated with depressive symptoms among health care professionals. It was reported that demographic factors including age were described as independent predictors of vulnerability to general physicians^[10,11]. High job demands, as well as occupational stress^[12-14], were among the suggested factors that are positively related to depressive symptoms, while social support was negatively related to depressive symptoms^[14,15].

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Norah M. Alshatiri

Department: Family medicine- king Abdu alaziz medical city - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia