Teaching is considered by many teachers to be a vocation. When teachers are asked why they want to teach they primarily refer to intrinsic and altruistic reasons, such as the desire to teach, to work with children, or to make a contribution to society. While it is well-established that intrinsic motivation is positively related to overall job performance, being emotionally involved also increases the likelihood of taking failures and setbacks personal. This renders teachers vulnerable for emotional problems and distress. In addition to the this general feature of the teaching profession, the so called ‘intensification’ of the teaching profession – the increase in externally imposed demands for assessment, record keeping, and accountability –  further threaten the mental well-being of teachers. Indeed, one of the main consequences of the intensification process consists of a reduction in the proportion of the time and effort that can be spend to teaching itself.

Against that background more research into the determinants of the mental health of teachers is warranted. The central research questions of this paper are: how does the mental health of teachers compare to employees of other social professions (nurses, social workers, physicians, psychologists,…)? Do teachers stand out on certain aspects or do they all experience similar problems?  Contrasting the teaching profession with other social professions allows us to gain insight in the particularity of the psychological burdens of the teaching profession in the 21st century.

We add to the existing literature on several ways:

• Instead of one outcome we study several outcomes related to mental health. We conceptualize different aspects of mental health by internationally validated scales such as the GHQ-12 and CIDI-SF for psychological distress, anxiety and depression. This choice takes into account the fact that certain personality characteristics make people more sensitive for certain psychological conditions. Some people will be more vulnerable to anxiety, others to depression.
• By comparing teachers to other social professions we can draw a clear profile of the teaching profession. We can identify those aspects which make the teaching profession different from other professions.
• Previous studies have shown that teachers in comparison with other contact professions (e.g., nurses, physicians, social workers) report the highest levels of stress and burnout. These studies have been conducted in the nineties and call for replication. In contrast to these studies we also take into account several outcomes of mental health.

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