Blog Glob: "Economic Downturn Raising Suicide Risk Factors Among Attorneys"

Excerpt:

Lawyers tend to be overachievers whose legal training and working conditions can contribute to what studies -- most notably one by researchers at Johns Hopkins University -- suggest is a predisposition to depression and anxiety that can contribute to suicidal thoughts. Although it's impossible to pinpoint the many factors that may lead to suicide, the added stress of the economic downturn could be exacerbating that predisposition and pushing some people too far, they said. "You're not able to go to your friends or your family because they're in the same place," said Sherry Molock, an associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Maryland. "The economy is an equal-opportunity downfall for everyone right now."

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The Dave Nee Foundation, named after a law student who struggled with depression and committed suicide in 2005, strives to educate law students about depression and prevent suicide among the students. Lukasik, a personal injury lawyer at Buffalo, N.Y.-based Cantor Lukasik Dolce Panepinto, discovered eight years ago when he was taking his turn serving as his firm's managing partner that he was suffering from depression. He now speaks to law schools, judges and lawyers' groups on the topic and is writing an American Bar Association-sponsored book on the subject. Meditation, exercise, spiritual practice and education can all help lawyers protect themselves against mental illness, he said.

Click to read the rest of "Economic Downturn Raising Suicide Risk Factors Among Attorneys" (National Law Journal).