Putting together a list of professions with the highest risk or rates of suicide is complicated. This complication is created by three factors: there is no central repository for data on suicides, the data that is available on suicides is regional or local, and the process of looking at suicide from a scientific perspective has not yet been completed on a large population such as the U.S. Suffice it to say, at the outset of this article, there is no reliable list of professions that are at risk for suicide. What data is available is intuitive and a little deductive on professions and suicide. There is even some evidence that occupation or profession is not a strong predictor for committing suicide
What is known about professions and suicide?
There have been a few larger scientific studies completed on suicide and these have raised some food for thought related to what professions might be at risk for suicide. The results of a study of death certificates completed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) indicated the following occupations had a higher incidence of suicide: white male physicians, African American guards (this data included supervisors, crossing guards, protective service occupations, but did not include correctional institution suicides) and, white female painter, sculptors, crafts-artists, and artist print makers.
What is known about age and suicide?
One of the roles of the CDC – Centers for Disease Control – is to collect data and analyze it in the areas of number of births, number of deaths, and the causes of death. Data from the CDC indicates suicide is the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S. When you look at the ages of those who committed suicide, it becomes the second largest cause of death for teens between the ages of 15 and 24.
Other information about suicides and professions
In general, the old saying, “The jury is out” holds true for a definitive understanding of the effects an occupation or profession has on the incidence of suicide. It does seem reasonable to predict that physicians are significantly more prone to committing suicide than other professionals. The most common approach to suicide, used by physicians, is overdosing-as compared to shooting themselves or hanging. Because physicians are trained in understanding drugs and drug reactions, they are more likely to be successful in their suicide than others. One last piece of information for consideration is there appears to be no difference in the rate of suicide between male and female physicians. This contrasts with the general population information that men are four times more likely to commit suicide than women.
Waiting for the suicide jury to decide
It is too early to make definitive statements about professions and their relationship to suicide. More credible scientific study needs to be completed before any information on suicide and professions can be accepted as valid.
