High Levels of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Problems Among Law Students

But students are very reluctant to seek help. They shouldn’t be.

Bloomberg BNA reports:

From February to May 2014, [Professor Jerry] Organ and his colleagues surveyed more than 3,300 law students from 15 law schools about their drinking, drug use, and mental health. Twenty-two percent reported binge drinking two or more times in the previous two weeks, and almost a quarter showed signs that they should undergo further testing for alcohol addiction. More than a quarter had received at least one diagnosis of “depression, anxiety, eating disorders, psychosis, personality disorder, and/or substance use disorder,” the study found. . . . .

People preferred to leave their illnesses untreated than risk not becoming a lawyer. More than 60 percent of students said they didn’t get help for their reliance on drugs or alcohol because they were worried it would affect their career prospects or their chances of getting admitted to the bar.

You can read the full report here at The Bar Examiner.

(ljs)