Suicide Among Professional Divers

[Eric Sedletzky]

I had a dive buddy who committed suicide.
He was my dive buddy and best friend for the first ten years of my diving life. He was a recreational diver, a blue collar guy in the HVAC trade making good money, his wife was a nurse making great money. Both were divers. They travelled a lot to some pretty exotic dive locations.
He was always type A. It seemed like he was always trying to assert himself and had a weird chip on his shoulder about life.
He had a self confessed history of excessive drug use including a lot of LSD, other psychoactive and hallucinogenic drugs, marijuana, etc. when he was a kid starting at age 14.
He abandoned all the substances and was clean when I knew him. He drank a little socially, we all do, but I never saw him drunk.
He got bored with his marriage and ended up having a fling with a woman he met on a Socal LOB.
His marriage ended up blowing up and things went bad at his work. He withdrew from our diving circles and nobody could get in contact with him. Next thing I heard he moved back to Santa Cruz, CA and moved back in with all his old drug buddies from 45 years prior into the same house doing the same drugs. Nothing had changed.
His ex wife came into our LDS one day many months later and dropped the news that he committed suicide. He was 60 years old.
I watched Larry completely self destruct and there wasn’t a damn thing any of us could do about it.
When we would go diving was when he seemed the happiest. But some of the conversations to and from the coast were a little alarming. I always wonder and beat myself up that I should have seen the signs and been more aware.
Man, I miss that dude!

 

[GiraffeMarineSalvage]

Eric, I'm sorry for your loss and hear you about wondering what signs might have been there and how in hindsight to have best been a good friend (crazy coincidence being what you said made me think of a former co-worker and friend named Erik that committed suicide struggling with manic depression and the fallout of a difficult divorce, leaving behind numerous caring family and friends, including his young children, that loved him...).
The significant social stigma attached to depression (whether situational and/or brain chemistry) and wide range of individual coping mechanisms which range from healthy (exercise, diving, meditation, etc) to unhealthy and exasperating (drinking, drugs, etc) all too often prevents people (both those that may be suicidal and those hurt by losing someone they care about..) from getting the help and support they need...
It doesn't help how unapologetically dysfunctional many aspects of our governments and social institutions presently are or how the media manipulates how people think in order to break everyone "different" in order to achieve conformity (and of course consuming more and more to prop up the GDP, instead of enjoying what one already has..). Not to mention the insanity of perpetual comparison to ones peers on a single element of ones life as as an easy way for individuals in every single socioeconomic demographic to feel bad about themselves: a homeless person without a tent, comparing to one with a tent, comparing to one with a car all the way up to a multi-millionaire without a personal plane comparing to one with a prop plane comparing to one with a small jet plane comparing to one with a larger jet plane...).
Mental health challenges in the USA are one of our society's largest unaddressed problems, all any of us can do is the best we can with the information we have at any given time while pushing to destigmatize anyone getting help while simultaneously keeping in mind how to our actions can cascade both intentionally and unintentionally..

 

[DXHI]

The University of Sheffield Medical School conducted a study in 2018 that found scuba diving could offer therapeutic benefits to combat veterans suffering physical and psychological wounds but that was due to the state of relaxation one can achieve while diving and the social benefits or organized group activities, I believe. Diving, like alcohol and other things, might be good in moderation or as a recreational endeavor. A glass of wine or a couple of cups of coffee have been studied to be beneficial. But alcoholism or too much caffeine are not healthy. Scientists are always looking for something to study. With an increased interest in mental health awareness, I did not know if DAN or other researchers had studied the effects of diving on exposures that would coincide with those who dove daily. I didn't find abything on a Google search, but since diving docs look at this forum I figured if there was one they'd know or know how to find such a study if it existed.

I would have to agree with this article. Certainly everyone’s mind works differently and each person has their own struggles and I am in no means making light of that; but i feel like diving if anything has to be some level of therapeutic.

Also just want to state I’m not suicidal or depressed in any form… but diving is an amazing stress relief for me.. just the calm quiet bubbles. The sights and being a visitor in a whole other world is awe inspiring.. Feels like a real world sci fy movie.

My best friend that struggles with depression pretty bad, and I worry about him a lot…we’ve discussed some things that are too private to post. A few years ago even with him getting professional help I was expecting a dreaded call from his parents almost daily..
I’ve tried to get him diving.. even had it lined up to pay for his lessons.. but because he couldn’t afford gear or trips he refused to go…. Still working on him.

I do know 2 people personally who committed suicide … one was a friend of a friend and I doubt in his case there was much that would have helped him unfortunately.
He was put in a no win situation from any perspective. In high school he was a real hell raiser / troublemaker. Within a weak of getting his learner’s permit he had a bad wreck that unfortunately resulted in his mother’s passing.
After he was discharged from the hospital his dad refused to see him; kicked him out of the house and he had to live with his grand parents.

By senior year he really straightened out; made honor roll. Numerous most improved student awards. Had some sort of sports scholarship, a steady descent girlfriend. He called his dad asking him to come see his improvements, watch him graduate and wanted to show he turned his life around.. His dad told him nothing had changed and he still didn’t want to see him…. Fella never made it to graduation.

The other guy was a classmate of mine. He was a super smart fella, a little strange but overall a genuinely nice guy. He had a hard time fitting in even though was well liked by everyone which is a rarity. He was held back his first year of vet school .. which happens more commonly than alot of people will admit…
Not sure of what all that transpired between summer and the start of the new fall semester, we didn’t see him back the first week and assumed he had dropped out completely. But at the end of the week the Dean informed us of his passing and his parents were setting up a help program for anyone else struggling.


Oddly enough veterinarians are statistically a high risk suicide group. It’s kind of crazy but documented well enough the mortgage company my girlfriend works for won’t do a business or home loan to veterinarians for that reason.

My supervisor had 3 friends (all veterinarians) who took their own lives this past year… really shook him up to the point he almost had a career change.


When my friend was really struggling , I found a Tony Robbins video online with a guy on the verge as well.. real or fake It showed methods of diversion and at least for a minute breaking that thought process. If it helps it helps and here is the link if it may benefit anyone

 

[Cthippo]

Oddly enough veterinarians are statistically a high risk suicide group. It’s kind of crazy but documented well enough the mortgage company my girlfriend works for won’t do a business or home loan to veterinarians for that reason.

My supervisor had 3 friends (all veterinarians) who took their own lives this past year… really shook him up to the point he almost had a career change.

Veterinarians (like dentists who are the second most likely profession to commit suicide) have access to drugs and know how much to take to succeed. People in every profession have suicidal ideation and impulses, but those with access to the means to do so are most likely to succeed.

 

[ofg-1]

Are you thinking about instructors that teach for several years, wake up one morning, look at their paycheck and discover that the guy that scrapes up roadkill skunk makes more than they do?

 

[Beau Holden]

I believe. Diving, like alcohol and other things, might be good in moderation or as a recreational endeavor.

I don't know about suicide, but I when my diving moderation out of hand, at least by her standards, lead to a divorce.

 

[tridacna]

I would not want to be part of the OP’s circle of friends or acquaintances. That seems to be a high risk group.

 

[DavidFL]

My daughter is a veterinarian. There is a closed social networking group called "Not One More Vet" that is a pretty useful resource she and many of her friends and colleagues use.

 

[Ben_3]

From experience, usually suicidal thoughts come from many things adding up and making the person feel overwhelmed and dose not usually come from only their profession. Drugs, alcohol, some medications etc.. make these thoughts even worse. Lately I have noticed that there are quiet lot of people anti depressants!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My daughter is a veterinarian. There is a closed social networking group called "Not One More Vet" that is a pretty useful resource she and many of her friends and colleagues use.

Makes sense. My neighbor is a vet and he has to deal with some really sh!tty animal owners who are really sh!tty to their pets. I remember my first dog that I had to put down (either brain tumor, extreme case of epilepsy, without tests hard to say but there was no longer any quality of life so it was an easy, yet still painful decision). The vet asked me if I wanted to be in the same room. WTF? I held her as she took the lethal injection and felt her take her last breaths and last heart beats. That is the bare minimum that pet owners should do yet for some reason people think that bare minimum deserves accolades. I'll never understand that.