So... It baffles my mind as to why there are higher rates of suicide in some professions over others. The recent suicide of Robin Willams and Micheal Jackson are also suspect with me, along with my own brothers suicide not so long ago.
A little known fact is that when animals sense their coming demise due to ill health, they leave their homes, and travel far away to die in remote ditches and fields far away from their loved ones.
From an evolutionary stand point this has odd implications. Why was this advantageous. Surely a lost love one disappearing into the night stresses families, herds, and packs. To die with loved ones might be advantageous to intelligent creatures who might become more aware of what has happened. For the sheer sake of someones own survival, staying with loved ones might increase their chances of surviving due to caring and nurturing provided by loved ones. It goes against everything which is immediately logical about survival.
So... what's left? Bacteria.
Searching around tonight, I can find evidence that first responders, health care workers, and even veterinarians have high rates of suicide. Why is this? These occupations moreso that others are subject to unseen, unknown, bacteria which is host inside human bodies. They are not garbage workers collecting bacteria laden junk, they are human junk collectors. Bacteria that resides in humans and animals which has lead to deaths more often than not.
Your thoughts? I may post links later... but for now... I believe it may be possible, that suicide is an instinct, one which is triggered when life threatening bacteria over run a host body. Drugs which have unknown mechanisms which lead to suicidal ideation and increased rates of suicide, may be to blame for weakening immune systems leading to conditions in which bad bacteria can flourish.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22433743
Failure to acknowledge high suicide risk among veterinarians.
A high suicide risk has been reported among veterinarians in comparison to the general population. Postulated causes have included depression, substance abuse, work-related stress, reluctance to admit psychiatric problems, and access to lethal drugs and/or familiarity with euthanasia. Members of the Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), all veterinarians licensed in Alabama, and all US veterinary-association executive directors were surveyed regarding their attitudes concerning mental health issues, including veterinarian suicide.
http://www.newhealthguide.org/Highest-Suicide-Rate-By-Profession.html
18 Professions Where People Most Likely To Kill Themselves (White Men)
Physicians 1.87 times
Dentists 1.67 times
Veterinarians 1.54 times
Finance workers 1.51 times
Chiropractors 1.50 times
Heavy construction operators 1.46
Urban planners 1.43 times
Hand molders 1.39 times
Sellers of real estate 1.38
Assemblers of electrical equipments 1.36
Lawyers 1.33 times
Lathe operators 1.33 times
Farm managers 1.32 times
Operators of heat treating equipments 1.32 times
Electricians1.31 times
Precision woodworkers 1.3 times
Pharmacists 1.29 times
Natural scientists 1.28 times
Clearly the people with the most interaction with the sick and dying, or diseased, are among the highest in terms of suicide rates.
Anti-depressants are for some unknown reason able to increase the likelyhood of suicide in some instances, and it has people baffled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidepressants_and_suicide_risk
The relationship between antidepressant use and suicide risk is uncertain, complicated, and the target of medical research. Some studies have shown that the use of some antidepressants correlate with an increased risk of suicide in some patients, and this problem has been serious enough to warrant government interventions in some places to label greater likelihood of suicide as a risk of using antidepressants. The circumstances under which this can happen are not clear, and other studies show that antidepressants treat suicidal ideation.[citation needed]
These drugs are known to alter immune systems which are not yet currently understood.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060119230939.htm
Drugs that treat depression by manipulating the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain may also affect the user's immune system in ways that are not yet understood, say scientists from Georgetown University Medical Center and a Canadian research institute.
For those of you who are not aware about ill and dying animals disappearing to die in ditches, and such, here is a thread which discusses said observation...
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-128979.html