An echo chamber is an environment where only one type of view is represented and repeated. These opinions tend to dominate conversations, often reinforced by confirmation bias. During the first half of 2026, several familiar themes echoed within the Veterinary profession. Two of the more problematic topics involve beliefs surrounding Veterinary mental health and the intent of veterinarians to leave their careers.
Mental health awareness in Veterinary medicine became mainstream with the publication of two studies: the Merck Animal Health Veterinary Wellbeing Study of 2018 and the 2019 CDC/AVMA Mortality Study. The Merck Wellbeing Study found that psychological distress in U.S. veterinarians was equivalent to that of the general population and that suicide attempts within the profession were considerably lower than those within the general population. Despite these positive findings, the narrative that caught the profession’s attention was the CDC/AVMA study. This study found that from 1979-2015, male veterinarians were 1.6 times more likely and female veterinarians 2.4 times more likely to die by suicide when compared to the U.S. general population. These statistics continue to reverberate when Veterinary mental health is discussed; consider a current public awareness video on one Veterinary wellbeing support site that states that “…like all veterinarians, he is three times as likely to die from suicide.”
The perception that the profession is broken and unhealthy is pervasive, especially commentaries around burnout and suicide. The echo chamber reinforces the belief that these factors as unavoidable realities within the profession, which has led to feelings of hopelessness for current practitioners as well as Veterinary students. As one Veterinary student explained, “I feel guilty. I repeatedly hear my classmates say how burned out they are and how burned out the profession is. I don’t feel this way; I am excited and can’t wait to become a practicing veterinarian. Am I missing something?”
I was happy to reassure her that she was not wrong to be enthusiastic, and that factually most veterinarians are thriving in the profession. The recent findings of the fourth Merck Animal Health Veterinary Team Study (2024) identified that greater than 53% of participants state that they have high levels of wellbeing and are flourishing, which occurs when a person is in positive emotional state and functions optimally in all areas of life.
This study found that veterinarians experience similar levels of burnout compared to the U.S. general population, with 82% of veterinarians reporting low to medium levels of burnout. It is imperative to note that burnout is the result of stress that arises in the workplace, from how work is done and not from the employee themselves. It is important that practices cultivate healthy workplace cultures by welcoming emotions into the workplace and managing them for the benefit of all team members. Additionally, practice leaders should tailor work that aligns with the strengths of each employee and create ongoing personal growth and development opportunities. These components, along with regular one-on-one conversations with team leaders, will help to create workplace engagement. These strategies are antidotes for burnout.
This study did identify some mental health risk factors, mainly that about 10% of veterinarians are suffering from serious psychological distress. These individuals are disproportionately younger professionals. The findings highlight the opportunity to provide increasing support to our newer colleagues by normalizing discussions about challenges and struggles, offering and encouraging the use of employee assistance programs and ensuring health insurance coverage for mental health services. Given that student debt negatively impacts wellbeing, it is helpful for practices to provide a financial advisor to work with teams around financial planning, debt repayment and budgeting.
Another fallacy that is often repeated is that large numbers of veterinarians are dissatisfied and either leaving clinical practice or the profession altogether. As identified in 2024 Merck Wellbeing Study, 74% of study participants report being somewhat or extremely satisfied with their careers. In that report, less than 2.5% of veterinarians under the age of 55 reported an intent to leave the profession in the last two years. This aligns with findings in the 2026 AVMA Economic State of the Veterinary Profession, which found that 73% of veterinarians were satisfied to very satisfied with their jobs, compensation and lifestyle. This survey found that 9.3% of veterinarians were considering leaving the profession for non-retirement reasons; this sentiment was highest in veterinarians that graduated between 2000-2009.
Idiosyncratically, satisfied respondents in the Merck study believed that they were the outliers. They perceived that 35% of their colleagues are dissatisfied to extremely dissatisfied in their work and that only 43% were satisfied. This is another example of the damage being done by the echo chamber.
What are possible unintended consequences of perpetuating one-sided conversations around Veterinary mental health and career satisfaction? The first could be a negative view of the profession by those interested in a future Veterinary career. How might the current narrative adversely impact attraction and retention of a diverse and qualified pool of Veterinary school applicants?
The second is the potential that the profession will buy into the views promoted within the echo chamber and that this will lead to self-fulfilling beliefs. These narratives might already be clouding professional perception; as identified in the 2024 Merck Wellbeing Study veterinarians underestimate the degree of professional satisfaction experienced by their colleagues.
Rather than perpetuating the current echoes around mental health and Veterinary career dissatisfaction, I challenge each of us to broaden our perspectives to tell a different story:
Veterinary medicine is one of the few professions that provides joy through profoundly improving lives-both human and animal! It is overwhelmingly filled by practitioners who are happy and find deep meaning and satisfaction in their daily work, be it clinical, research, government, industry or as an innovator.