05/04/2020

“We know physicians find it very difficult to ask for help. Physicians tend to be perfectionists and to show vulnerability is hard for them,” she said. “They’re always caring for others and put others above themselves The Physician Support Line launched March 30, which happened to be national doctors’ day, and connects physicians with volunteer psychiatrists.   (Read Article) 

05/03/2020

A group of psychiatrists launched the Physician Support Line to help doctors deal with the stress of combating the coronavirus crisis, with more than 600 people now volunteering in shifts to help. (Watch the Video)

05/01/2020

In the wake of a doctor's tragic death, a new hotline aims to help frontline workers with their mental health. The founders of the Physician Support Line explain how the coronavirus has shined a light on the need.  (Watch Interview)

04/30/2020

A new hotline is trying to help more doctors who may be struggling right now to manage the pressure and prevent things from getting worse. The free hotline is called the Physician Support Line.

“Almost all of them start off with, ‘I'm so sorry for taking your time, I'm so sorry for taking this resource,’ and that speaks to that implicit in this of others should be taken care of before me,” said Dr. Mona Masood, co-founder of the Physician Support Line. “We respond back with, ‘this is for you, we're here for you,’ and giving them again that permission that they do matter.” (Read More)

04/29/2020

Unbeknownst to the founders of PSL, Tyler Rossman of Tross Films found us and made a video featuring our website and urging physicians in need to reach out. (Watch the Video)

04/28/2020

The calls to the Physician Support Line often begin with an apology from a desperate doctor. “They will say something like ‘I am sorry for bothering you with this,’” said Dr. Mona Masood who, with the help of four other psychiatrists launched the hotline last month to help doctors deal with the stress of combating the coronavirus crisis. (Read More)

04/24/2020

On March 30, the Physician Support Line (888-409-0141) was launched to provide free counseling to doctors facing mental health challenges during the pandemic. In the first three weeks of the service, more than 3,000 minutes of counseling were logged. Physician Support Line's founder says moderating a COVID-19 physician group on Facebook inspired her to start the hotline. (Read More)

04/24/2020

As Mona Masood, DO, a Philadelphia-area psychiatrist and moderator of a Facebook forum called the COVID-19 Physicians Group, reviewed post after post about her colleagues' fears, anxieties, and the crushing pressure to act like a hero, inspiration struck. Would it be possible, she wondered, to create a resource through which psychiatrists would be available to provide frontline physicians with some emotional personal protective equipment (PPE)? (Read More)

04/22/2020

Across the country, psychiatrists are stepping up to provide urgent care to fellow health care workers in need amid the coronavirus pandemic. They’re offering stress management strategies, spearheading unusual partnerships, and discovering that psychotherapy and medication might not be their most helpful tools to help their colleagues at this time.“This is completely the opposite of the way we practice psychiatry,” said Allison Cotton, MD of the University of Nevada, Reno. (Read More)

04/21/2020

As a psychiatrist, my role in COVID-19 has included that of a therapist for my colleagues. I helped start Physician Support Line, a peer-to-peer hotline for physicians staffed by more than 500 volunteer psychiatrists. Through the hotline and social media, physicians are revealing their emotional fatigue. (Read More)

04/14/2020

Doctors are used to dealing with death and pushing through bad days. But those treating patients during the coronavirus pandemic are under an unprecedented amount of mental stress. Many do not have what Northwestern University’s Family Institute psychiatrist Smita Gautam calls emotional PPE, or personal protective equipment. (Read More)

04/13/2020

Dr. Suzan Song of George Washington University says that emotional PPE is the equipment that we need to protect ourselves from the emotional suffering that comes from trauma. (Watch the Interview)

04/03/2020

People testing positive for the coronavirus are the main concern nationwide, but the people who care for them are coping with their own mental health issues, which have gone mostly untreated. But doctors working on the front lines of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic now have a new avenue to help deal their own issues, with the help of a Nevada, Reno doctor. (Read More)