A new study of Illinois lawyers found that more than half reported persistent stress, and the main drivers weren't mysterious. Excessive workloads and feeling unappreciated topped the list. The study, reported by Reuters, also asked attorneys about drinking and gambling, which is part of why I wanted to write about it.

Lawyers aren't a group I cover often, so I can't tell you how this compares to other states or earlier surveys. What I can tell you is that the picture it paints is one a lot of high-pressure professions will recognize.

The stress itself makes sense when you look at the structure of the work. In my view, and I suspect many lawyers would agree, billable hour expectations have grown heavier over the years, though that's my impression rather than something this study measured. Client expectations run around the clock. And the nature of legal work means the stakes are often someone's money, freedom, or family. That's a heavy thing to carry, and it stacks up week after week.

What struck me most was the role of feeling unappreciated. That one doesn't get enough attention in any profession. In twenty years of nursing I watched burnout follow a predictable pattern, and it was rarely the hard work alone that broke people. It was hard work combined with the sense that nobody noticed. Human beings can tolerate an enormous amount of effort if they feel seen doing it. Take that away and the same workload becomes crushing.

The drinking and gambling questions deserve a careful read rather than a scandalized one. I haven't seen the full results for those measures yet, only that the study asked about them, so I'd hold off on characterizing how big the problem is until the numbers are public. Problem drinking among lawyers is something researchers have written about for a long time, and the usual explanation is self-medication, using alcohol to wind down from a nervous system that's been running at full throttle all day. It works in the short term, which is exactly the trap.

If you're a lawyer reading this, there are a few things I'd want you to walk away with. Persistent stress isn't a character flaw or simply part of the job description. Chronic unmanaged stress raises your risk for anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and heart disease, and I've covered studies on this site linking workplace stress to worse health outcomes across the board. If you're using alcohol to decompress most evenings, that's information worth paying attention to, not a reason for shame. It's your body telling you the load is too heavy and the recovery isn't working.

Where do you turn? Many states have lawyer assistance programs, and my understanding is that most are confidential, though I'd encourage you to verify the specifics in your own state rather than take my word for it. I know the fear that admitting a struggle will hurt your career is real in this profession, and I won't pretend to know how well-founded it is in every situation. What I do know, from healthcare and from life, is that suffering in silence has never once protected anyone's career.

My son Linton went through his own health struggles in his twenties, and what I watched him learn, slowly, is that the breaking point usually comes long after the warning signs started. The billable hours won't notice if you're gone. The people who love you will.

If you take one thing from this study, make it the feeling of being unappreciated while working too hard. That isn't something to push through, it's something to name, out loud, to someone. Start with your doctor, a therapist, or whatever assistance resources your state bar offers. Any one of those is a fine place to begin.