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Comment by dkrich | Hacker News Reader

I was thinking about this this morning and couldn't help but notice the apparent correlation between high profile people who have committed suicide recently and their profiles.

All from arts/creative fields (Avicii, Kate Spade, Bourdain, Robin Williams, Heath Ledger, I'm sure there are more). Is there any scientific research that has explored the possibility that the wiring in the brain that makes people creative has a propensity for depression?

Of course the sample size is small and could be selection bias, but would like to hear from people who are knowledgeable on the topic.

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Doesn't really answer your questions, but I'd point out that it's possible that we only hear about these suicides precisely _because_ they are from professions that tend to produce high-profile celebrities. I'd counter your apparent correlation with the fact that apparently suicide among doctors is extremely high:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/what-...

Is's a common convention in newspaper obituaries and articles to not mention cause of death as suicide, except in newsworthy situations.

Covering suicides in general were somewhat taboo unless they involved someone noteworthy:

https://www.poynter.org/news/reporting-suicide

That doesn't counter it, though.

It could be true that "the wiring in the brain that makes people creative" increases the risk of depression while also being true that there are other things that increase it too.

Your comment also implies that whatever that wiring is, doctors don't have it, and I don't know if that is an assumption we should make.

The suicide rate in doctors is not higher than the general population.

Suicide is common. There are lots of doctors. Some doctors die by suicide.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6525a1.htm

> The frequency of suicide in different occupational groups was examined, and rates of suicide were calculated by sex and age group for these categories. Persons working in the farming, fishing, and forestry group had the highest rate of suicide overall (84.5 per 100,000 population) and among males (90.5); the highest rates of suicide among females occurred among those working in protective service occupations (14.1). Overall, the lowest rate of suicide (7.5) was found in the education, training, and library occupational group.

There's a theory that creatives are much more sensitive (which is why they are so good at their work) and thus more vulnerable to crazy highs and lows.

One book on the subject is, Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.

The attribute you are looking for actually has a formal psychometric measure: neuroticism.

Slight nitpick, but Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose [0].

0. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Ledger

Accidental is rather bold. I'm sure Ledger was aware he was playing with fire. I've taken hard drugs for chronic pain -- and the threshold of difference between pain relief, sedation, and ultimately death- it is a stark dosing and feeling difference, not easily overlooked. I'd garner 90% of overdoses from clean drugs (not fentanyl swap/cut with other things), 90% are people who have an existing death wish. The risk is like penance, self whipping or cutting or whatnot. It is almost cathartic because they think the result is binary; either death or numbness. But we all know that there are medical midpoints like brain death or organ failure..etc.. Depressed people tend to be catastrophic, taking complex odds and possibilities and projecting them onto a binary, almost altruistic pair of contrasting outcomes. Its sad..I only know this because I suffer the same way..just not with drug abuse anymore.

Well there was no indication he was depressed or wanted to die, just very wound up and unable to sleep. Certainly combining multiple drugs is asking for problems as many people have found out the hard way.

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