Bench & Bar September/October 2026

In cases where significant stress has already been experienced, “SIT alone without the continuation of trauma-focused treatment in the last phase may be sufficient” for some service recipients, although for others there “may be more utility in its use as a skills-building training” that enables them “to move into more rigorous trauma-fo cused interventions and experience greater success,” according to an article published in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Prac tice, and Policy (https://tinyurl.com/SIT-trauma). Citing this study among others, researchers at the University of California (both Los Angeles and San Diego) concluded in The Journal of Neuroscience that when SIT is applied, “brief, mild stressor exposure enhances subsequent coping capacity by stimulating, but not overwhelming neurophysiological mechanisms” (https://tinyurl.com/SIT-JNeuro). SIT has been utilized successfully with law students. According to researchers Richard Sheehy and John Houran (at Drake University and Arizona State University, respectively): Much attention has been paid of late to the issue of law student stress. It is undisputed that law students experience significantly higher anxiety and stress than students in other graduate pro grams. Moreover, law schools do not teach students how to handle the everyday anxiety and stress that accompany the practice of law. Our study had the support of the law school administra tion and was thus easily implemented. The study has empirically demonstrated that there is an effective way for law schools to help their students mitigate the potential negative effects of stress and anxiety. If other schools incorporated the principles of SIT into their curricula, perhaps both students and graduates would experience less occupational stress as well as improved academic and professional success in their legal careers (https://tinyurl.com/ sheehy-houran-SIT). The American Bar Association has weighed in on this topic as well, seeking to advise counsel on the best way to prepare for what might be, if not the worst, at least something we would just as soon not have to endure without preparation: When you move through and grow from a stressful experience, you have what’s called “stress inoculation” and you build “distress tolerance.” Your brain and body learn to handle stress, including new kinds of stress. If you were to ask most people how they cope with their biggest sources of stress, they would likely say that they draw on what they’ve learned from previous stressful experiences. Once you have encountered and moved through a certain kind of stress, you feel more confident in your ability to handle that same stressor in the future, and you’ll likely handle it more calmly, skillfully, and easily than you did the initial time you faced it. You can choose to view today’s stress as a tool that will help you learn to navigate similar situations more smoothly and successfully in the future (https://tinyurl.com/ABA-SIT-stress).

It may comfort those who like a bit of science behind their friendly advice that countless studies confirm that moderate levels of stress, as plotted on a “Yerkes-Dodson Curve” (https://tinyurl.com/Yerkes Dodson-SIT), not only steel us for an uncertain future but actually keep us focused in the present as well. Stress is a concept well-suited to guidance proffered by the “National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being” (the “Task Force”), an entity “conceptualized and initiated by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP), the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC), and the Association of Professional Responsibil ity Lawyers (APRL)” and made up of several other “participating entities” from within and without the American Bar Association (https://tinyurl.com/ntflwb). The Task Force has identified six pillars or “dimensions” that com bine to “make up full well-being for lawyers,” one of which is the “Intellectual” dimension that involves “engaging in continuous learning,” “the pursuit of creative or intellectually challenging activ ities that foster ongoing development,” and “monitoring cognitive wellness” (https://tinyurl.com/ntflwb-report). Stress concerns are most commonly investigated in the context of physical and emo tional realms, but it would be a mistake to overlook the intellectual resiliency bolstered by appropriately managed procedural and envi ronmental challenges.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR DR. ERIC Y. DROGIN is a Norton Health care Louisville Hospitals Medical Staff member with clinical privileges in adult psychology. A clinical faculty member of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, he also teaches on the faculty of the Harvard Medical

School, where he serves as the Affiliated Lead of Psycholegal Studies for the Psychiatry, Law, and Society Program at Brigham and Wom en’s Hospital and participates in the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and the Forensic Psychiatry Service at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Proud to be a Kentucky lawyer for the last 35 years, Dr. Drogin is a former chair of the ABA Science & Technology Law Section and a former president of the American Board of Forensic Psychology. Please contact him at eyd@drogin.net with your suggestions for lawyer mental health and wellness topics.

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