title: Mental health and substance use among self-employed lawyers and pharmacists.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Self-employed workers experience occupational stress and may suffer from various mental health disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the mental health, substance use and risk factors for psychological distress in a sample of self-employed lawyers and pharmacists.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study, using self-completion postal questionnaires, of lawyers and pharmacists. The General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) was used as a measure of current mental health, and some additional questions evaluated alcohol, tobacco and psychotropic drug use and somatic morbidity. A multiple regression model was used to analyse the respective impact of the different risk factors on psychological suffering.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1282 lawyers and 1153 pharmacists participated representing response rates of 36 and 35%, respectively. According to the GHQ-28 score, the rate of psychological distress was high in the sample overall, especially in lawyers (52 versus 47% in pharmacists, P < 0.05). According to the mean number of drinks per day, 16% of the lawyers and 13% of the pharmacists reported alcohol misuse, and lawyers were twice as likely as pharmacists to smoke (26 versus 13%, P < 0.001). Higher GHQ-28 scores were associated in lawyers with female gender, being widowed or divorced, smoking and using anxiolytic medication and in pharmacists with being younger, smoking, alcohol abuse and anxiolytic and hypnotic use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our sample of these self-employed groups, both pharmacists and lawyers reported a high rate of psychological distress.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Corentin-Celton Hospital, groupe hospitalier Hôpitaux Universitaires Paris Ouest, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), 4 parvis Corentin-Celton, 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Leignel
authors: J-P
authors: JP
authors: Schuster
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Hoertel
authors: X
authors: X
authors: Poulain
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Limosin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033241:Lawyers / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Alcohol abuse; mental health; occupational stress.