ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the occupational stress among general practitioners and its effects on the individual. It addresses the literature on stress in general practitioners and discusses the qualitative and quantitative studies. The chapter focuses on type A behaviour, coping and social support as these influence the experiences of occupational stress. To date, one of the largest UK studies investigating occupational stress among general practitioners was carried out by the authors in the 1980s and more studies in the 1990s. In-depth interviews were carried out with general practitioners, their spouses and their children. When the general practitioners were asked to what extent they found their job stressful, 100" indicated that they experienced moderate to high stress at work. Other stressors included: time pressure, being on-call/night calls, work overload, interruptions, lack of communication, lack of support from spouse, aggressive patients, financial stress, bureaucracy, and lack of resources. According to Folkman and Lazarus there are two functions of coping: problem-focused and emotion-focused.
