A Lawyers Weekly survey asked Australian law students to comment on likely reasons behind the fact that twice as many legal students suffer from mental health problems as medical students. The main cause cited related to outside factors - such as poor career prospects and a tough degree course. But the second most common reason related to legal personality types. 

Perfectionists and pessimists

One student said: 'Law attracts a lot of perfectionists. Perfectionism is a very unhealthy mental trait.' Another answered: 'Lawyers [are] ‘trained pessimists’. We [are] trained to look for problems and worst-case scenarios. Unfortunately, this spills over into our personal lives.' Source: Lawyers Weekly