Suppose you came down with the following symptoms: sore throat, fever, chills, and swollen tonsils. To alleviate these symptoms and boost well-being, it might help to drink a lot of fluids, take Tylenol, and get some rest. But these measures, though helpful, don’t target the “problem” causing these symptoms. Once you learn however that these symptoms are caused by the “problem” of strep throat, you have the information you need to take the right remedy: amoxicillin. This distinction between “symptoms” and the underlying “problem” is relevant to discussions taking place in the legal community about lawyer well-being.
In 2017, the ABA initiated an important conversation about the well-being of lawyers in the U.S. That year, the ABA published a report that included findings from a survey of nearly 13,000 practicing attorneys. The survey showed that roughly 20 to 30 percent of those surveyed reported problematic alcohol use and some level of depression, anxiety, and stress.
