You, Your Loans and Clinical Depression.
by Mike Rosenblatt, DPM
ROSEY1@prodigy.net
Since I started the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS WITH HIGH
STUDENT LOANS, I have had several providers write me who are clinically depressed. They have disclosed
suicidal thoughts and have known some of their friends who have died under “suspicious” circumstances. Some
fear that these deaths were related to debt.
Under the circumstances, it is quite logical for you to feel a failure, worthless and beaten down if you can’t pay
your loans. The first place you tend to look for that is “your own failings.” This may relate to your “ability” to
obtain a coveted training position in your profession, and being hamstrung by not getting it. Or perhaps a slow
growing professional practice in the same neighborhood as severe competition. I’ve said once and I’ll say it
again: “Even if you have a few extra clients or patients/ month, that will not pay back your loans. We need the
AMNESTY PROGRAM. You might as well cooperate with your competitors and they with
you.
The odds of getting wonderful extra training were against you. The cutbacks in financial backing for resident and
training programs have limited educational opportunities. Competition for the remaining programs is cutthroat.
For those lucky few who got them, even if that was a ticket to a coveted job at an HMO or group medical
practice, you are still getting a lower salary by virtue of the fact that you are close to the bottom of the group.
Don’t forget your HMO or medical group is ALSO getting less money for their services. They are as much
victims of government cutbacks and managed care as YOU would be had you started your own practice. Even if
you are certified to perform complex surgical procedures, highly remunerative special examinations or
“expensive” psychological tests, chances are the fees for those services are far less than they used to be. The
cutbacks go all throughout healthcare. There are a few exceptions like highly paid Beverly Hills plastic surgeons,
but even they have great competition.
I cannot over stress that suicide is a short term solution to a long term problem. We recognize here what you are
going through. But a clear reason for your suffering is the governmental actions that put you where you are. I’d
make a couple of modest suggestions:
Your legislators are there for you when you have problems with Governmental programs. If you are being
heartlessly dunned and harassed by collectors and are doing all you can to pay back your loans, you need to
contact your legislators and have them try to call off the beasts. You can use my letters as a basis for your own.
They might be able to help you work out an amnesty program on your own. Look, it’s worth a try. Be sure to
contact a lawyer.
I am enclosing a web site for clinical depression. As I am not a behavioral scientist, I cannot advise you. But my
brother committed suicide. It was (and is) very hard on myself and our family. (No, he was not a healthcare
provider) Also, it will bother me if I hear about it. I’ll think, maybe the person didn’t get a chance to read my site;
or worse, perhaps I should have written something different on my site. Maybe if I’d done a better job….
Most importantly, you can’t treat depression by yourself. You need to contact a mental health counselor to help
you. Ironically, they too may have huge student debt! Certainly they will understand your plight. It will sure be
easy to explain it to them.
You might even be able to add them to your skinflint study group.
I find it ironic and even a bit funny that I am recommending the National Mental Health Association. I don’t know
if this is a government organization or not, but let’s not forget that the main reason you can’t pay back your loans
is because of government actions against healthcare! You should also call your family doctor for a
psychiatric referral. Your family doctor may also have huge college loans. The entire process might be a remarkable
educational process for all. You might even be able to help them.
But above all, I really do care or I wouldn’t be doing this.
Thanks for reading it. Good luck!
Posted on Nov 07 2000, 12:15 PM
from IP address 63.14.237.150
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