SUICIDE RATES*
Every seventeen minutes, someone in the United States commits suicide.
Suicide ranks third among causes of death for Americans under the age of twenty-one, and it is number two for college students.
In 1995 more young people died of suicide than of AIDS, cancer, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, birth defects, and heart disease combined.
Suicide was, according to the World Health Organization, responsible for almost 2 percent of deaths worldwide in 1998, which puts it ahead of war and way ahead of homicide.
* Andrew Solomon’s “The Noonday Demon,” pp. 248 and 257.
STATISTICS**
Between 20 and 30 percent of adolescents report symptoms of depression. While depression once was considered an “adult” affliction, the mean age of onset today is 15.
Almost 9 percent of high school students have attempted suicide in the past year.
Early diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders increase the liklihood that the teenager can lead a productive adult life.
Most prevalent adolescent disorders are treatable. But delivery of treatment is by no means assured.
Schools are the defacto mental health service delivery system for children and adolescents. But the level of services available is poor, and varies widely. Of 2,000 schools surveyed as part of a study titled, “Treating and Preventing Adolescent Mental Health Disorders, What We Know and What We Don’t Know,” published in 2005, slightly more than half had full-time access to a mental health professional.
Primary-care physicians — who can serve as a gateway to specialized treatment — often are inadequately trained to identify and diagnose mental health problems. Many physicians expressed low confidence in their abilities to detect mental disorders among adolescents in their care.
** As reported in the newsletter “Lifesavers”, a publication sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
LAW STUDENTS, LAWYERS, AND DEPRESSION
- Depression among law students is 8-9% prior to matriculation, 27% after one semester, 34% after 2 semesters, and 40% after 3 years. [i]
- Stress among law students is 96%, compared to 70% in med students and 43% in graduate students. [ii]
- Entering law school, law students have a psychological profile similar to that of the general public. After law school, 20-40% have a psychological dysfunction. [iii]
- Psychological distress, dissatisfaction and substance abuse that begin in law school follow many graduates into practice. [iv]
- Only half of lawyers are very satisfied or satisfied with their work. [v]
- Chronic stress can trigger the onset of clinical depression. [vi]
- Lawyers are the most frequently depressed occupational group in the US. [vii]
- Depression and anxiety is cited by 26% of all lawyers who seek counseling. [ix]
- 19% of lawyers suffer from statistically significant elevated levels of depression, according to a survey conducted on lawyers in Washington. [xii]
- Over 25% of North Carolina lawyers experience physical symptoms of extreme anxiety at least three times per month during the year. [xiii]
[i] G. Andrew H. Benjamin et al., The Role of Legal Education in Producing Psychological Distress among Law Students and Lawyers, 1986 Am. B. Found. Res. J. 225 (1986).
[ii] Helmers K.F. et al., Stress and Depressed Mood in medical students, law students, and graduate students at McGill University, Acad Med. 1997 Aug; 72(8):708-14.
[iii] Deborah Rhode, Legal Education: Professional Interests and Public Values, 34 Ind. L. Rev. 1 (2000).
[iv] Gerald Hess, Hearts and Heads: Creating an Effective Teaching and Learning Environment in Law School, 52 J. of Legal Educ.75 (2002).
[v] Symposium on Lawyer Happiness, 58 Syracuse L. Rev. 217 (2008).
[vi] Stress System Malfunction Could Lead to Serious, Life Threatening Disease, NIH Backgrounder (Sept. 9, 2002) http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/sep2002/nichd-09.htm; see also Todd C. Scott, Stress for Success?, GPSolo Magazine (Oct./Nov. 2007) http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/magazine/2007/oct-nov/stressforsuccess.html.
[vii] W. W. Eaton et al., Occupations and the Prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder, 32 J. of Occupational Med. 1079 (1990).
[ix] Sacha Pfeiffer, Law and a Disorder, Boston Globe (June 27, 2007), http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/06/27/law_and_a_disorder/.
[x] Don P. Jones & Michael Crowley, “I wish I could have called you before”, http://www.abanet.org/barserv/barleader/22-6wish.html.
[xi] ABA Mental Health Toolkit, http://www.abanet.org/lsd/mentalhealth/toolkit.pdf.
[xii] G. Andrew H. Benjamin et al., The Prevalence of Depression, Alcohol Abuse and Cocaine Abuse Among United States Lawyers. 13 Int’l J. of L. & Psych. 233-246. (1990).
[xiii] NC Bar Association, Final Report of the Quality of Life Survey of NC Attorneys (2003).
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RECOMMENDED READING
“Suicide Prevention Strategies: A Systematic Review,” as appeared in the October 26, 2005 issue of the JAMA, volume 294, no. 16, p. 2064-2074
Kay Redfield Jamison, Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide (New York: Knopf, 1999)
Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas on Depression (New York: Scribner, 2001)
William Styron, Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (New York: Random House, 1990)
Suggested reading by Mike Wallace (of “60 Minutes” fame, and someone who has struggled with depression) in a recent Wall Street Journal Op-Ed:
Ann Sheffield, How You Can Survive When They’re Depressed (Harmony Books, 1998)
Harold Koplewicz, M.D., More Than Moody (G.P. Putnam’s, 2002)
Dennis Charney, M.D., and Charles Nemeroff, M.D., The Peace of Mind Prescription (Houghton-Mifflin, 2004)
Peter D. Kramer, Against Depression (Viking, 2005)