Infectious diseases physicians saw the highest increase in happiness from 2025 to 2026, while allergy and immunology saw the greatest drop in happiness.
Becker’s used data from Medscape’s “Physician Mental Health & Well-Being Report” in 2025 and 2026. The reports surveyed more than 10,000 physicians across 29 specialties. It asked about physicians’ health habits and overall happiness. To calculate happiness, Becker’s used the question that asked, “Is it possible to be a happy, well-balanced person as a practitioner in that specialty” for both years and found the percent change in the number of physicians that said, “yes.”
Fourteen specialties saw an increase in happiness in the last year, two specialties had no change and twelve specialties had a decrease in happiness.
Here are the specialties ranked by change in happiness in the last year.
Infectious diseases: 19%
Rheumatology: 11%
Neurology: 9%
Pulmonary medicine: 8%
Critical care: 7%
Radiology: 7%
Gastroenterology: 6%
Dermatology: 4%
Nephrology: 3%
Oncology and hematology: 3%
Plastic surgery: 3%
Urology: 3%
Physical medicine and rehabilitation: 2%
Emergency medicine: 1%
OB-GYN: 1%
Internal medicine: 0%
Ophthalmology: 0%
Anesthesiology: -1%
Orthopedics and orthopedic surgery: -1%
Pediatrics: -1%
Cardiology: -2%
Diabetes and endocrinology: -2%
Psychiatry: -2%
Family medicine: -3%
Otolaryngology: -3%
Public health and preventive medicine: -3%
Pathology: -5%
General surgery: -8%
Allergy and immunology: -9%
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