Scope of the Problem

Precise statistics on prevalence of chemical dependency and mental health problems among attorneys are difficult to come by. Attorney reluctance to admit such problems contributes to the lack of data. One of the few published studies was reported in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry in 1990, in which researchers surveyed a sample of Washington state lawyers. The findings included:

• 19 percent of the surveyed lawyers suffered from depression, compared to 3 to 9 percent among the general population.
  
  
• 18 percent were problem drinkers, nearly double the 10 percent rate for U.S. adults, as determined by the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information.
  
  
• Less than 1 percent were cocaine abusers, below the national average of 3 percent of the adult population. But 26 percent of the attorneys said they'd used cocaine at some point in their lives, compared to 12 percent in the general population.

The same research group found similar results on depression, problem drinking, and cocaine abuse in a previous study they conducted among Arizona lawyers, indicating the rates may not be dependent upon jurisdiction within the United States.

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