My wife is a psychiatrist and sees a psychiatrist off the record because she’s afraid of the stigma affecting her career. It’s just one data point but I find it telling that a psychiatrist is afraid that other psychiatrists will know she takes med to treat a psychiatric condition. Hers is anxiety related.
In my view it's pretty widespread that people are hesitant to seek certain kinds of care because of the potential effect of a "pre existing condition" on their employability.
Exactly. I don't think it's because the medical board itself would stop them, but more because the stigma attached to it would lead to people questioning them and their ability to do their job, not to mention the issues with insurance. I'd say that likely has a lot more to do with doctors wanting to see others off-the-record... I know of some teachers who do the same thing with psychiatrists, because they don't want it getting out to the students' parents.
https://www.acepnow.com/article/emergency-physician-with-dep...
(Reddit thread discussing that article) https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/aaappq/emergency_...