A Brief Review of Veterinarian Well-being in 2025

Veterinarian Mental Well-being

A brief review in 2025

In 1980, Blair and Hayes discovered that veterinary professionals had higher suicide rates compared to the average population. Over 40 years and potentially hundreds of published studies later, what have we learned? And, more importantly, where are we headed next?

Adverse effects of being a veterinarian

Firstly, we’ve learned the common “adverse mental health outcomes” associated with being a veterinary professional (not unlike those of the drugs that vets prescribe to their patients). Those include stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout, to name a few.

We’ve learned that suicide and suicidal ideation remain prevalent in the profession, despite efforts from organizations such as Not One More Vet (NOMV) and others. Though we believe the situation to have improved, we currently don’t have enough research to know whether that is true.

We’ve also learned that these concerns exist in many countries around the world, as reported in, for example, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. It’s important to highlight that the absence of reports in other countries does not mean the concerns do not exist, but that they were simply not reported.

Veterinarians’ poor mental health and well-being not only impact themselves…

…but can also have perceived negative impacts on interactions with clients, teamwork, concentration, and decision-making, all of which can decrease the quality of care that patients receive.

From the employers’ perspective, the veterinarians’ poor mental health and well-being increase the chances of absenteeism, attrition, and turnover, which could present significant economic costs.

A study in 2022 estimated that the turnover and reduced working hours caused by burnout contributed to at least $1 - 2 billion in lost revenue annually in the U.S.

… but why?

These “adverse mental health outcomes” have been found to be tied to occupational stressors such as long work hours, poor work-life balance, professional mistakes, unexpected outcomes, and ethical dilemmas.

Newer studies have shown that the leadership and team environment play a pivotal role in making these stressors better or worse. For example, a focus group with veterinary technicians revealed that teams with toxic work environments also came with excessive workload, leading to burnout and staff turnover.

Shifting away from the adverse outcomes

While previous research has done a lot to uncover the concerns of mental health and well-being in the profession, there has been a collective shift to move away from that narrative.

In 2017, Cake advocated for more research that focuses on the positive aspects of veterinary work (which has always been eclipsed by the negatives in the past). A lot of veterinarians (myself included) love the profession, despite all the adverse effects that may come with it.

Pharmaceutical corporations innovate newer generations of drugs that become more effective while reducing the adverse effects. What if we could do the same for the veterinary profession? What if we can shift the newer generation of veterinarians away from these adverse effects that have been identified?

A more positive profession

As mental wellness practices and positive psychology become more mainstream, they have spilled over into veterinarian mental health as well. With more and more studies reporting on positive outcomes such as resilience and positive functioning.

My team has also published research articles on meaningful work and emotional intelligence.

As we move forward, my hope is that we will see more research on the positive aspects of veterinary work and how we can make the profession more positive for everyone.