Why leaving medicine feels like escaping a cult

Why does leaving medicine feel like escaping a cult? Physician coach Chelsea Turgeon, who resigned from OB-GYN residency about six years ago, compares the profession to a cult, from expensive involvement through student loans to debilitating work routines, isolation, and the illusion of hope. She explains the shame physicians face for quitting medicine, what she calls the "tweak to tolerate" phase, and the question to ask when you feel trapped. ⏱️ Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:18 Why leaving medicine feels like escaping a cult 2:19 Why she quit residency and left medicine 4:22 Expensive involvement and student loans 5:18 Debilitating work routines 7:05 Isolation from others outside medicine 8:29 The illusion of hope and trying to quit in intern year 10:00 Why people say shame on you for leaving 12:56 The tweak to tolerate phase 14:38 What her clients really want 16:10 Can part-time work or direct primary care help 17:37 Feeling trapped and asking what feels like relief 18:54 Can medicine be fixed 20:50 Take home messages About this episode: Chelsea Turgeon is a physician coach and the author of the book Residency dropout. She says she went into medicine for the wrong reasons, finished at the top of her class, matched into her top-choice residency, and still felt empty. Deep in burnout during her second year of OB-GYN residency, she resigned with over a hundred thousand dollars of student loan debt and booked a one-way ticket to South Korea. Her KevinMD article grew out of the shame she kept seeing around leaving medicine, from people who never felt they could talk about it to LinkedIn comments telling her to be ashamed, and out of a documentary about the NXIVM cult that felt familiar. After reading about cults, she lists the traits she sees in medicine, including expensive involvement through loans, debilitating work routines, inordinate time devoted to the group, isolation from others, and the illusion of hope. She wanted to quit medicine during her intern year and was talked out of it, which she is now glad about, because then she gave it a really good try. Many clients come to her trying to tweak to tolerate, and she says 15-minute patient visits are just not OK. For a physician below baseline, the question she suggests is what feels like relief, and asked how to fix the system, she says she does not know if it can be fixed. 🤝 Partner with me on the KevinMD platform: With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Let's work together to tell your story. ➡️ PARTNER WITH KEVINMD: https://kevinmd.com/influencer ➡️ SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST: https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast ➡️ RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD: https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended #LeavingMedicine #PhysicianBurnout #Residency