Introduction:

The objective of this article was to explore, from an anthropological perspective, the social representations that doctors who treat COVID-19 in specialized hospitals in Mexico City have, regarding the relationship between their professional performance and the deterioration of their mental health; as well as their social representations of the existing institutional resources to provide them mental health attention and their care-seeking and self-care strategies.

Materials and Methods:

For this, a qualitative investigation was carried out with semi-structured interviews with 35 doctors who treat COVID-19.

Results:

From the points of view of the doctors, various sociocultural and structural causes of mental illness related to their professional performance are documented and analyzed, as well as their representations about the inadequacy and/or ineffectiveness of the institution, group, or individual resources to provide them mental health attention; and some allopathic and non-biomedical forms of care-seeking and self-care.

Conclusions:

Recommendations are made to address the etiologies of the disease analyzed in a culturally and structurally appropriate way to the context of the pandemic.

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