Lawyer leads depression support group to help other legal professionals cope
Daniel Lukasik: “Driving home from work, I used to cry almost every day without even knowing why. If it weren’t for my wife and daughter, I might’ve killed myself. Depression is an illness, not an emotion. It’s a sadness far beyond just being sad.” Photo courtesy of Lawyers with Depression
Daniel Lukasik started his support group and the website Lawyers with Depression 10 years ago and his coaching practice, Your Depression Coach, in 2015. He has coached more than 150 attorneys and law students.
“Coaching provides a toolkit for lawyers to cope with depression and helps them in recovery,” Lukasik says. It includes dietary advice, exercise programs, lifestyle models and other methods of dealing with depression and its aftermath.
At the depth of his depression, when he was 40 years old, attorney Daniel Lukasik sat in his car in a dark parking lot and cried.
“Driving home from work, I used to cry almost every day without even knowing why,” says Lukasik, now 55. “If it weren’t for my wife and daughter, I might’ve killed myself. Depression is an illness, not an emotion. It’s a sadness far beyond just being sad.”
Today, Lukasik of Buffalo, New York, still practices law. But he also manages a support group for lawyers who have depression, conducts a coaching practice for attorneys who have or recovered from it, blogs about his own experience and related subjects, and speaks to lawyers across the country about this devastating illness.
Lukasik started his support group and the website Lawyers with Depression 10 years ago and his coaching practice, Your Depression Coach, in 2015. He has coached more than 150 attorneys and law students.
“Coaching provides a toolkit for lawyers to cope with depression and helps them in recovery,” Lukasik says. It includes dietary advice, exercise programs, lifestyle models and other methods of dealing with depression and its aftermath.
According to a 2016 study by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs, 28 percent of all working lawyers have depression.
“The support group meets once weekly,” Lukasik says. “We share experiences about [our] depression and urge lawyers who may be depressed to seek help.”
But support groups and coaching are no substitutes for professional treatment, Lukasik says.
Tyger Latham, a clinical psychologist in Washington, D.C., treats lawyers who have depression—a group that makes up about one-third of his practice, he says.
“Washington may have more lawyers per capita than other cities, but the high rate of depression among them reflects its prevalence in the legal profession,” Latham says. “Treatment depends on the severity of the depression. We use talk therapy or medications, or a combination of both. The length of treatment also varies depending on severity.”
STIGMA AND STRENGTH
According to Latham, depression is caused by a variety of factors.
“Lawyers are susceptible to depression because of the cutthroat nature of their profession,” says Latham, citing observations from his experience and data from formal studies.
“Lawyers are also typically pessimistic. They often don’t feel in control and have a sense of helplessness. They may be answerable to higher-ups in their firms or to their partners. Lawyers also tend to be perfectionists and Type A personalities—very ambitious and overachievers. There is also a genetic factor.”
But Latham warns against attaching a stigma to depression and encourages lawyers to seek help when the symptoms arise. “Depression should not be seen as a weakness of character or mind,” he says.
Lukasik emphasizes this point in his published articles and talks, and in his coaching sessions.
One lawyer, who prefers to remain anonymous, says Lukasik’s coaching helped him. He had depression, and a psychiatrist treated him with talk therapy and medication.
“Dan and I worked on building a toolkit of emotional and physical activities that would help me regain my mental health and return to work,” the lawyer says. “At the time I worked with Dan, I was on leave from my job.”
When it comes to lawyers who have depression, he says: “Get help. … Recovery and continued well-being is a multidisciplinary approach.”
Lukasik agrees. “After the worst of a lawyer’s depression symptoms have subsided, they often need ongoing help and mentoring to keep getting better and to stay well,” Lukasik says.
Find more information on Lukasik’s coaching practice at yourdepressioncoach.com.
This article appeared in the October 2017 issue of the ABA Journal with the headline “The Depression Coach"
