ArticleJournal of health psychology2026
'I would have blamed myself, but coming back, I can see that it wasn't me': A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological analysis of doctors' reflective processes in recovery from burnout and mental crisis.
Article in Journal of health psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Elimination of burnout and work-related mental illness in hospital doctors, at least in the short term, is unrealistic. Supporting doctors' recovery continues to be important. Despite this, the aftermath of work-related mental illness and burnout, is not well understood. Using a descriptive phenomenological method, we describe the experience of coming to terms with mental crisis perceived to be caused or exacerbated by work stress for six senior consultant hospital doctors. Findings show that, in the aftermath of crisis, doctors engaged in two types of reflection: 'situational sense-making' to make sense of their experiences and 'transformative self-reflection', reflection in a deeper way on the experience, themselves and their lives. Transformative self-reflection led to change and in some cases growth. Not all doctors engaged in transformative self-reflection, and the process of recovery was complicated by contextual factors and when support from employers was perceived as absent, poor or acrimonious.
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