Pressure!(President's page)

• Author: Abadin, Ramon A.

Take a moment and think about our lives as legal professionals. Think about the speed at which we are required to get things done, not only in the office where deadlines loom, but at home: taking care of our kids, our aging parents, our spouses, our friends, and family.

Emails clog our inboxes. Texts fill our smartphones. Multi-tasking is a survival skill. Living in this 24/7 news cycle, we have instant access to anything anytime from anywhere. Modern life is full of many choices with much opportunity.

The price we pay is increased pressure. We suffer sensory overload, a common by-product of all of the "benefits" of living in our modern era.

How we deal with quieting the constant chatter and relieving the pressure is not always healthy. The most comprehensive survey done in more than 25 years was recently conducted on more than 12,000 American lawyers. Funded by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and the American Bar Association, the survey found that more than 20 percent of America's licensed attorneys drink at levels that are considered "hazardous, harmful, and potentially alcohol-dependent" --three times the rate of problem drinking among the general public. On one measure based solely on the quantity and frequency of alcohol use, lawyers had double the rate of problem drinking than doctors, another stressful profession.

Michael J. Cohen, executive director of Florida Lawyers Assistance, Inc., (which receives about 600 hotline calls a year from Florida lawyers dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues) said the most surprising statistics from that survey is that younger lawyers under age 30 had the highest problem-drinking rates (31.9 percent) and junior associates at law firms (31.1 percent).

Patrick Krill, the study's lead author, a former lawyer, and director of the Legal Professionals Program at Hazelden Betty Ford, told The Washington Post that lawyers tend to "prioritize success and accomplishment over things like balance, personal well-being, and health. You put them through a training (law school) where they are taught to work harder, play harder, and assume the role of a...