HappyLifestyleJournal
People go through various steps of education to reach the necessary level and be able to do a certain job. These days, people have a wide variety of professions to pick from and it is easier than ever to choose what you really want to do. However, there are many people unsatisfied with their jobs, and it seems that people from the most appreciated professions are the unhappiest ones. In the U.S. jobs that require high levels of sacrifice, commitment and education are those with a high risk of suicide.
These are the 7 professions with the highest rates of suicide. Some of the data may be a little outdated but professionals say that things haven’t changed much in the recent years.
1. Medical Doctors
Doctors seem to be almost 2 times more likely to commit suicide than people of other professions. Around 4% of all doctors who die don’t die of natural causes, but commit suicide. Several factors are thought to influence medical doctors to become more prone to committing suicide than people from less demanding professions, some of which include long periods of education, expensive education, demanding patients, long working hours, and easy access to medications which in some cases leads to misuse. This ease of access makes it easy for doctors to use drugs to commit suicide, as their knowledge about them is vast.
2. Dentists
Dentists who have private practices usually earn lots of money but this is not the case for all of them, and this profession is extremely competitive. This occupation requires great technical skills, while a dentist’s day at work is filled with stress coming from working long hours and dealing with difficult patients. According to approximate statistical data, dentists are 1.67 times more likely to end their own lives than those working average, less stressful jobs. Among the factors that increase the risk of suicide in this profession are patient complaints, stress trying to reach perfection, financial problems, etc.
3. Police Officers
People usually believe that police officers are stable persons with good mental and physical health, but this is not always the case. Enforcing the law can be very stressful and it requires commitment, working long hours and dealing with all sorts of problematic people and witnessing murders and other gory scenes. Statistics show that police officers are more likely to become depressed than people from other occupations, and less likely to sleep enough. A police officer is 1.54 times more likely to commit suicide than the average worker.
4. Financial Services
Although people in the finance industry tend to make lots of money, suicide rates among those in the industry are surprisingly high. People working in the financial sector are around 1.51 times more likely to commit suicide than the average worker. Some of the main causing factors for this may be the insecurity that came with the recession in the U.S. Suicide rates among them are completely tied to the financial situation in the country and more of them are prone to committing suicide when there’s a bump on the financial road.
5. Electricians
Electricians, if skillful, are likely to earn lots of money and they are always in demand. However, even though they can lead pretty good lives, electricians are 1.36 times more likely to commit suicide than the average worker. This may be due to stress caused by dealing with life-threatening currents that could kill them if they get one little thing wrong. Also, there are theories that frequent exposure to electromagnetic radiation changes the brain chemistry and affects a person’s way of thinking. Whatever the reason is, suicide rates among electricians are higher than average.
6. Lawyers
To become a lawyer, a person needs to go through extensive education, which draws serious expenses along. After completing education, lawyers are usually under a lot of pressure to pay off massive student loan debts, while their first job rarely pays well. Working lawyers are believed to have higher likeliness of depression than people working in average professions. This is probably due to long working hours, stressful cases, and always being in a rush to accomplish something. According to statistics, lawyers have a 1.33 times higher likeliness of ending their own life than average people.
7. Farmers
This may seem odd, as people usually perceive farming as a relaxing profession. However, not all farmers can profit from growing crops. Sometimes, weather occurrences destroy crop production which leaves the farmers without a product to sell. Farmers are 1.32 times more likely to commit suicide than average people. The biggest suicide risk factor for farmers is the lack of money needed to buy machinery, repair and replace parts of it, and provide for the family. Also, farmers are often exposed to pesticides, and research has shown that there may be a link between them and suicide.
