One Chicago’s 5 most stressed characters

2. Sarah Reese

When Dr. Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo) was introduced back in season one of Chicago Med, she was shown to be a very determined, head-strong med student and not much has changed since. Her switch from emergency medicine to psychology meant she had even more to prove since she didn’t have any prior psychology knowledge and was thrown into the deep end pretty much immediately.

With her determination to do well, Reese didn’t like to fail and often found herself doubting her knowledge and not trusting herself like she should have. However, that doesn’t mean there was any problems with her stress levels, just the usual amount for a med student, which is fairly high.

After the shooting of Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) at the end of season two, as well as being threatened by an ex-patient just days prior, Reese’s mental state took a drastic turn. Her stress levels rose to the point she carried a small spray can of pepper spray in her medical coat to protect her. During an altercation with another patient, Reese pulled the pepper spray from her pocket and doused the patient resulting in a suspension from the hospital.

Being a doctor is difficult. Some patients don’t want to be treated and others lash out because of pain or because they don’t want to be there. It makes sense for doctors to be wary and to watch out for themselves, but Dr. Reese was feeling the pressure. She was suffering from the day-to-day stresses of being a doctor with the added fear of being shot be a patient, much like Dr. Charles.

Our recommendation for Dr. Reese would be to seek help by reaching out to those around her who could have helped her deal with the stress and work out ways of coping rather than keeping it hidden. Talking about an issue or a problem someone has doesn’t necessarily make them a weak person, just a normal one. It doesn’t take much to ask for help, and that’s something Reese should have done before it got out of control.