Is Psychiatry a Profession Associated with High Anxiety?

Background: Depending on intensity, anxiety can have an adapting and mobilizing role, or it can represent a serious risk.
Aim: To examine the prevalence of anxiety symptoms for those who work in a clinic of psychiatry.
Material and method: Group consists of 35 persons who work in the Acute Psychiatric Clinic II – Targu Mures. Anxiety was measured as a current emotional state and as a trait by Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).
Results: Applying Spielberger’s Inventory 33.3% of the female and 28.5% of the male might be suspected of suffering from significant anxiety symptoms as a state. Also the subject’s predisposition to anxiety as a trait of the subject’s personality is important, 24% of female and 43% of men had levels of anxiety over 60% compared with standards.
Conclusions: An important number of people who work in psychiatry have high scores of anxiety. Further studies are needed to clarify to what extent this relates to a high prevalence of anxiety disorders.