Crazy Socks 4 Docs - Chat with Dr Angela Anson

On Crazy Socks 4 Docs Day, everyone is encouraged to wear crazy socks to start the conversation and smash the stigma around mental health. We'll be profiling a number of doctors for their wellbeing tips as the day approaches, and have crazy socks to give away so you can put your best foot forward in supporting this important cause  – share your reflections and wellbeing tips on our social posts to receive a pair! #crazysocks4docs #smashthestigma #docsmentalhealth #selfcare

On avoiding burnout
There’s evidence that if you spend 20 per cent of your day at work doing what you love, you’re less likely to burn out. If you find something you love, you will put up with anything the other 80 per cent of the day. My 20 per cent is supervising trainees doing psychotherapy cases and teaching.

On tackling mental health stigma in medicine
Everyone is part of a positive movement about challenging the stigma of mental health, which I agree still exists. When I started out as a doctor back in 2010, there was a much more shameful silence around doctors sharing their experience of mental health. As an aspiring psychiatrist, I never understood why doctors would be immune from the issues that every patient faces. As doctors we are patients too, in every sense. The same kindness and patience we bestow on patients we should bestow on our colleagues and ourselves.

On creativity
Sharing a creative life is key, sometimes art can convey the lived experience between than a bland procedural sheet or hospital memo. Art in all forms keeps me going, I love hearing and seeing the creative pursuits of my medical peers whether it’s seeing a friend’s gig, their artwork, their poetry, I think it’s nice to see that even as doctors we can have a life outside of medicine. With all the concerns around psychiatry trainee mental health, when I was a mental health registrar I started a creative writing publication (Parapraxis) for registrars to contribute – articles, poems, even car reviews.

On staying well
I think it’s important to find the joys in the work that you do and the joys outside of work so that your identity is multifaceted. So when things fall apart in one domain, things will keep you going in another domain. For me, that journey’s been, I really cherish the opportunity being a consultant has brought me. I can work part-time, dedicate more time to my friends, family, hobbies of my choosing and have more emotional capacity for my patients, less vicarious trauma than when I worked full time.

Exercise is key – the Beyond Blue survey found it’s the number one way doctors manage their stress. Specifically running through the rainforest at Goomboora Park we are very lucky to live in a place where nature is winning over man. Communing with nature and quieting my thoughts is key.

On how to support a colleague who is struggling
It’s a cliché, but the RU OK conversation is so key and I think being open to being able to sit there and in the first instance do nothing, just really listen and hopefully together the doing something will be a natural progression. As doctors we want to fix things, and sometimes that’s not what someone needs when they first open up. As psychiatrists especially, I think there’s something really powerful in saying I don’t know what to do but I’ll stand beside you as we figure it out together.

If appropriate, I think there’s a solace in sharing our doubts and vulnerabilities with our friends and colleagues, because I think doctors are especially (OSCE – preparation style) good at pretending things are okay when they’re not.