# Suicide among Professionals

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-among-professionals/288345>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 4, 2005, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-among-professionals/288345 "2005-02-04T10:35:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![drmark2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@drmark2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drmark2000)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-among-professionals/288345/1 "2005-02-04T10:35:45Z")

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I remember reading somewhere, maybe 20 years ago, that the most suicides among “professional” people were with dentists, then psychologists. Several search engines have turned up nothing specific on this aspect of suicide, although there’s information on just about everything else regarding suicide.

Any information/leads?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-among-professionals/288345/2 "2005-02-04T10:40:44Z")

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[The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010420.html)

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**Author:** ![drmark2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@drmark2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drmark2000)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-among-professionals/288345/3 "2005-02-04T10:53:47Z")

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Veddy interesting. But nothing on psychologists, specifically. Psychiatrists (medical doctors), but no psychologists.

I swear the article I read had a ranking of about 10 professions.

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-among-professionals/288345/4 "2005-02-04T13:33:35Z")

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[This article in the _Monitor_](http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan01/suicide.html), the journal of the American Psychological Association, says statistics on suicide by profession are inconclusive:

> [@](#):
>
> But experts on suicide say that statistics on its relation to occupation are not clear. There is no national data set on occupation and suicide. Local studies indicate elevated rates in different occupations, but the data usually “turn out to be frail,” says prominent suicide researcher David Clark, PhD.
> 
> And in fact, points out Ronald Maris, PhD, director of the Center for the Study of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior at the University of South Carolina, “Occupation is not a major predictor of suicide and it does not explain much about why the person commits suicide.”