Why Are Abusive Physicians Reluctant to Seek Help?

As a part of all physicians' medical training, they rotate through all specialized areas of medicine. This means that all physicians exposed to psychiatry in addition to the other areas of medicine. One of the obvious reasons for this practice is to make certain that all physicians have enough knowledge and experience to appropriately make use of all specialties other than their own.

Unfortunately, psychiatry is an area of specialization that is often viewed by surgeons, cardiologists, oncologists and neurologists as somewhat soft in terms of its science. Psychiatry is considered to be highly subjective with questionable scientific evidence. In addition, any mental health intervention carries with it a stigma that may be damaging to a physician’s career.

One of the first questions posed by physicians inquiring about resources for abusive physicians is “Do I have to undergo a psychiatric assessment?”. This question is extremely important to any practicing physician as it will almost certainly affect his or her entire career if there is anything in any file suggesting impairment or even an assessment. Therefore, if the goal of a program is to help abusive physicians who are not addicted to drugs/alcohol or psychiatrically disturbed, it must not include a mandatory psychiatric assessment.

Anderson & Anderson is largest provider of Executive Coaching/anger management for abusive physicians in the nation. We have many case examples of physicians who purposely selected our program for its lack of focus on psychopathology. Our model uses an assessment designed to determine the physician’s level of functioning in recognizing and managing stress, anger, assertive communication, emotional intelligence and motivation to change. The Anderson & Anderson Executive Coaching/anger Management course provides skill enhancement in the same four areas mentioned above. No participant is accepted for coaching who demonstrates a lack of motivation to change.

In an effort to respond to the need of busy physicians everywhere, Anderson & Anderson now offers on-site coaching anywhere in the United States.

For information, contact our office at 310-207-3591 or visit our website.


George Anderson, MSW, BCD, CAMF

Fellow, American Orthopsychiatric Association

Diplomate, American Association of Anger Management Providers