The ADHD Social Playbook ”The Hidden Cost of ’Being Professional’: Why Masking Leads to Burnout” with Dr. Jessica Ching [Part 2]
Jul 29, 2025
In this thought-provoking discussion, Dr. Jessica Ching, a clinical researcher focusing on authenticity and mental health in medicine, reveals the detrimental effects of masking professionalism. She highlights how authenticity directly reduces burnout, depression, and suicide risk. Dr. Ching emphasizes that even minor shifts in self-alienation can significantly impact well-being. The duo also talks about the urgent need for systemic changes in high-stakes professions to support emotional reintegration, fostering environments where authenticity can thrive.
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Authenticity Predicts Mental-Health Outcomes
- Higher authentic living strongly reduces burnout, depression, and suicide risk among physicians.
- Increased self-alienation and accepting external influence raise those risks significantly.
Small Shifts, Big Mental-Health Effects
- Small changes on single survey items produced large shifts in risk metrics.
- A one-point increase on a self-alienation item raised burnout and depression by ~30% and suicidal risk by ~1.5x.
Findings Hold Across Career Stages
- The authenticity–mental health link was consistent across specialties and career stages.
- This suggests the finding likely generalizes beyond physicians to other high-stakes professions.