[M T]

Here's a story of an athlete that was apparently misdiagnosed as being depressed, but had a (physical) medical condition:
  Abi Burton: 'I nearly died' - the Olympian wrongly sectioned and fighting back from an induced coma

Just a reminder that changes in behavior may be from a medical condition.

(I wasn't familiar with this sense of "section":  "to officially force someone who has mental health problems to stay in a hospital and receive treatment because they might harm themselves or other people"  (dictionary.cambridge.org))

[M T]

Here's a story of an athlete that was apparently misdiagnosed as being depressed, but had a (physical) medical condition:
  Abi Burton: 'I nearly died' - the Olympian wrongly sectioned and fighting back from an induced coma

Just a reminder that changes in behavior may be from a medical condition.

(I wasn't familiar with this sense of "section":  "to officially force someone who has mental health problems to stay in a hospital and receive treatment because they might harm themselves or other people"  (dictionary.cambridge.org))

[BostonCard]

(I wasn't familiar with this sense of "section":  "to officially force someone who has mental health problems to stay in a hospital and receive treatment because they might harm themselves or other people"  (dictionary.cambridge.org))

In California it is known as a 5150 after Section 5150, the section of the Lanterman–Petris–Short Act or "LPS" that allows someone to be involuntarily committed for up to 72 hours if they are a danger to themselves or others.  Longer than that requires a court order.

https://www.stimmel-law.com/en/articles/...rdianships

I've now forgotten what it was in Massachusetts, but the internet shows that it is section 35.  I think we used to refer to the commitment as "Sectioning" a patient at risk of harm, while in California, 5150 is used as a verb (5150ing a patient).

https://www.mass.gov/service-details/sec...he-process

BC

[BostonCard]

(I wasn't familiar with this sense of "section":  "to officially force someone who has mental health problems to stay in a hospital and receive treatment because they might harm themselves or other people"  (dictionary.cambridge.org))

In California it is known as a 5150 after Section 5150, the section of the Lanterman–Petris–Short Act or "LPS" that allows someone to be involuntarily committed for up to 72 hours if they are a danger to themselves or others.  Longer than that requires a court order.

https://www.stimmel-law.com/en/articles/...rdianships

I've now forgotten what it was in Massachusetts, but the internet shows that it is section 35.  I think we used to refer to the commitment as "Sectioning" a patient at risk of harm, while in California, 5150 is used as a verb (5150ing a patient).

https://www.mass.gov/service-details/sec...he-process

BC

[dabigv13]

We used 5150 in training in California for involuntary commitment. I only learned of the term "sectioning" from the UK comedy Peep Show a couple years ago, and then read up on it some more. It seems there is a lower threshold for its invocation and continuance in the UK than CA.

[dabigv13]

We used 5150 in training in California for involuntary commitment. I only learned of the term "sectioning" from the UK comedy Peep Show a couple years ago, and then read up on it some more. It seems there is a lower threshold for its invocation and continuance in the UK than CA.

[cardcrimson]

Here's a story of an athlete that was apparently misdiagnosed as being depressed, but had a (physical) medical condition:
  Abi Burton: 'I nearly died' - the Olympian wrongly sectioned and fighting back from an induced coma

Just a reminder that changes in behavior may be from a medical condition.

(I wasn't familiar with this sense of "section":  "to officially force someone who has mental health problems to stay in a hospital and receive treatment because they might harm themselves or other people"  (dictionary.cambridge.org))

Thanks for posting the story. Clearly, there's a lot more than could be going on than just "It's on her".

[cardcrimson]

Here's a story of an athlete that was apparently misdiagnosed as being depressed, but had a (physical) medical condition:
  Abi Burton: 'I nearly died' - the Olympian wrongly sectioned and fighting back from an induced coma

Just a reminder that changes in behavior may be from a medical condition.

(I wasn't familiar with this sense of "section":  "to officially force someone who has mental health problems to stay in a hospital and receive treatment because they might harm themselves or other people"  (dictionary.cambridge.org))

Thanks for posting the story. Clearly, there's a lot more than could be going on than just "It's on her".

[M T]

Sorry for dredging up this topic we'd probably like to avoid thinking of, but the JAMA Medical News had a short article that I thought was relevant...

College Athlete Deaths by Suicide Have Doubled, and Researchers Want to Know Why

I'm not sure if the article is behind a paywall, so here's some notable findings/comments:

A recent study found that suicide is a growing cause of death among US collegiate athletes. Between 2002 and 2022, 1102 college athletes died overall and 128, or 11.5%, of these fatalities were identified as death by suicide. While the overall mortality for this population remained relatively stable during this 20-year period, the proportion of deaths by suicide doubled from just over 7.5% in the first decade, when 40 suicides occurred, to just over 15% in the second decade, when 88 occurred.

Meanwhile, other causes of death declined among college athletes during the same time frame. The study identified suicide as the second leading cause of death for student athletes after accidents in the second decade, supplanting cardiac arrests....

Whelan and her colleagues found that the overall incidence of death by suicide significantly varied by division, with higher rates for Division I and II athletes than Division III. Male athletes were involved 77% of the time, and their number of deaths by suicide increased from 31 in the first decade to 67 in the second. Deaths by suicide among female athletes increased from 9 to 21 between the first and second decade.
...
Deaths by suicide are on the rise. More than 49 000 people in the US died by suicide in 2022, a startling 36% increase from 2000. A separate NCAA database analysis also found that the rate of suicide among collegiate athletes appears to be lower than that of college students in general as well as the overall US population of a similar age.

There is a lot more discussion specifically about athletics, but it is mostly (perhaps well-founded) speculation (including discussing aspects of NIL, which of course affected only a small portion of the 2013-2022 time frame).

From the quoted study:

Of 1102 total deaths, 128 (11.6%) deaths by suicide were reported (male n=98, female n=30). The overall incidence was 1:71 145 athlete-years (AYs). Over the last decade, suicide was the second most common cause of death after accidents. The proportion of deaths by suicide doubled from the first 10 years (7.6%) to the second 10 years (15.3%). The suicide incidence rate for males increased linearly (5-year incidence rate ratio 1.32 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.53)), whereas a quadratic association was identified among female athletes (p=0.002), with the incidence rate reaching its lowest point in females in 2010–2011 and increasing thereafter. Male cross-country athletes had the highest suicide incidence rate (1:29 815 AYs) and Division I and II athletes had a higher suicide incidence rate than Division III athletes. No significant differences in suicide incidence rates by sex, race or sport were identified.

[M T]

Sorry for dredging up this topic we'd probably like to avoid thinking of, but the JAMA Medical News had a short article that I thought was relevant...

College Athlete Deaths by Suicide Have Doubled, and Researchers Want to Know Why

I'm not sure if the article is behind a paywall, so here's some notable findings/comments:

A recent study found that suicide is a growing cause of death among US collegiate athletes. Between 2002 and 2022, 1102 college athletes died overall and 128, or 11.5%, of these fatalities were identified as death by suicide. While the overall mortality for this population remained relatively stable during this 20-year period, the proportion of deaths by suicide doubled from just over 7.5% in the first decade, when 40 suicides occurred, to just over 15% in the second decade, when 88 occurred.

Meanwhile, other causes of death declined among college athletes during the same time frame. The study identified suicide as the second leading cause of death for student athletes after accidents in the second decade, supplanting cardiac arrests....

Whelan and her colleagues found that the overall incidence of death by suicide significantly varied by division, with higher rates for Division I and II athletes than Division III. Male athletes were involved 77% of the time, and their number of deaths by suicide increased from 31 in the first decade to 67 in the second. Deaths by suicide among female athletes increased from 9 to 21 between the first and second decade.
...
Deaths by suicide are on the rise. More than 49 000 people in the US died by suicide in 2022, a startling 36% increase from 2000. A separate NCAA database analysis also found that the rate of suicide among collegiate athletes appears to be lower than that of college students in general as well as the overall US population of a similar age.

There is a lot more discussion specifically about athletics, but it is mostly (perhaps well-founded) speculation (including discussing aspects of NIL, which of course affected only a small portion of the 2013-2022 time frame).

From the quoted study:

Of 1102 total deaths, 128 (11.6%) deaths by suicide were reported (male n=98, female n=30). The overall incidence was 1:71 145 athlete-years (AYs). Over the last decade, suicide was the second most common cause of death after accidents. The proportion of deaths by suicide doubled from the first 10 years (7.6%) to the second 10 years (15.3%). The suicide incidence rate for males increased linearly (5-year incidence rate ratio 1.32 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.53)), whereas a quadratic association was identified among female athletes (p=0.002), with the incidence rate reaching its lowest point in females in 2010–2011 and increasing thereafter. Male cross-country athletes had the highest suicide incidence rate (1:29 815 AYs) and Division I and II athletes had a higher suicide incidence rate than Division III athletes. No significant differences in suicide incidence rates by sex, race or sport were identified.

[TrumpCard]

I don’t think you bringing up this topic is a problem. Awareness saves lives. 

I would not have thought athlete suicides increased so much more than overall suicides. There has to be a cause for that. I didn’t run the numbers, but that has to be the case, at a very highly significant confidence level.

[TrumpCard]

I don’t think you bringing up this topic is a problem. Awareness saves lives. 

I would not have thought athlete suicides increased so much more than overall suicides. There has to be a cause for that. I didn’t run the numbers, but that has to be the case, at a very highly significant confidence level.

[cardcrimson]

Suicide rates are up across the board, though not to the extent they appear to be with athletes. I'd guess the added pressure to perform on the field, court or pool adds to it, and to some extent bad behavior by coaches (see Teri McKeever). Bullying by coaches happens not just at the college level, either, and is a serious problem administrations don't appear to want to address.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/8273...s-by-year/

[cardcrimson]

Suicide rates are up across the board, though not to the extent they appear to be with athletes. I'd guess the added pressure to perform on the field, court or pool adds to it, and to some extent bad behavior by coaches (see Teri McKeever). Bullying by coaches happens not just at the college level, either, and is a serious problem administrations don't appear to want to address.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/8273...s-by-year/

[Mick]

It doesn't surprise me that suicides overall are on the rise. There's a perfect storm of societal factors contributing to that rise; e.g., eroding safety net, availability of harmful substances (those two factors were cited the most in one study I read). A long, but steady increase since the late 1990s.

I'm 61. I don't have a broad circle of contacts, but seven of them have taken their own lives; two peers in my profession, three of my collegiate classmates, a client and a very close friend. Grim.

[Mick]

It doesn't surprise me that suicides overall are on the rise. There's a perfect storm of societal factors contributing to that rise; e.g., eroding safety net, availability of harmful substances (those two factors were cited the most in one study I read). A long, but steady increase since the late 1990s.

I'm 61. I don't have a broad circle of contacts, but seven of them have taken their own lives; two peers in my profession, three of my collegiate classmates, a client and a very close friend. Grim.

[M T]

Suicide rates are up across the board, though not to the extent they appear to be with athletes. I'd guess the added pressure to perform on the field, court or pool adds to it, and to some extent bad behavior by coaches (see Teri McKeever). Bullying by coaches happens not just at the college level, either, and is a serious problem administrations don't appear to want to address.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/8273...s-by-year/

Why would one believe bullying, and bullying by coaches, is any more now than, say, 20 or 50 or 100 years ago?  My gut feeling is that it is far less now, but I have little basis for that feeling other than that we pay attention to it now so it would be weeded out sooner.

I can believe that the "I'm better than you; I'm special" attitude of athletes is less common now than in the past.  Does such an attitude buffer against suicide, and the lessening of it in athletes is contributing to their suicide rate climbing toward the higher rate in non-athletes?  I don't know.

I found the total numbers of suicides by athletes, as described in the study, to be lower than I expected.  Low enough that the stats seem to be only marginally appropriate. (The article (vs the study) suggested that the real numbers are higher, but I don't know that there was any suggestion that the actual-vs-reported ratio is higher in 2013-2022 than in 2002-2012.)  In the 21 years, there were 128 suicides.  Yes, 6 per year is 6 too many.  Then they break it down by gender, NCAA Division, and by sport.  They're slicing it pretty thin....


I closely deal with the young children of two young single mothers that died apparently due to fentanyl in the last 1.5 years.  Suicide is not the only tragedy that affects young adults.

[M T]

Suicide rates are up across the board, though not to the extent they appear to be with athletes. I'd guess the added pressure to perform on the field, court or pool adds to it, and to some extent bad behavior by coaches (see Teri McKeever). Bullying by coaches happens not just at the college level, either, and is a serious problem administrations don't appear to want to address.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/8273...s-by-year/

Why would one believe bullying, and bullying by coaches, is any more now than, say, 20 or 50 or 100 years ago?  My gut feeling is that it is far less now, but I have little basis for that feeling other than that we pay attention to it now so it would be weeded out sooner.

I can believe that the "I'm better than you; I'm special" attitude of athletes is less common now than in the past.  Does such an attitude buffer against suicide, and the lessening of it in athletes is contributing to their suicide rate climbing toward the higher rate in non-athletes?  I don't know.

I found the total numbers of suicides by athletes, as described in the study, to be lower than I expected.  Low enough that the stats seem to be only marginally appropriate. (The article (vs the study) suggested that the real numbers are higher, but I don't know that there was any suggestion that the actual-vs-reported ratio is higher in 2013-2022 than in 2002-2012.)  In the 21 years, there were 128 suicides.  Yes, 6 per year is 6 too many.  Then they break it down by gender, NCAA Division, and by sport.  They're slicing it pretty thin....


I closely deal with the young children of two young single mothers that died apparently due to fentanyl in the last 1.5 years.  Suicide is not the only tragedy that affects young adults.

[newguy]

I'm 61. I don't have a broad circle of contacts, but seven of them have taken their own lives; two peers in my profession, three of my collegiate classmates, a client and a very close friend. Grim.

my best friend took his own life several decades ago.  i was a 19-yr-old sophomore in my dorm room at Stanford when i found out.
it can happen to anyone.  i still haven't gotten over it.

[newguy]

I'm 61. I don't have a broad circle of contacts, but seven of them have taken their own lives; two peers in my profession, three of my collegiate classmates, a client and a very close friend. Grim.

my best friend took his own life several decades ago.  i was a 19-yr-old sophomore in my dorm room at Stanford when i found out.
it can happen to anyone.  i still haven't gotten over it.

[cardcrimson]

Suicide rates are up across the board, though not to the extent they appear to be with athletes. I'd guess the added pressure to perform on the field, court or pool adds to it, and to some extent bad behavior by coaches (see Teri McKeever). Bullying by coaches happens not just at the college level, either, and is a serious problem administrations don't appear to want to address.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/8273...s-by-year/

Why would one believe bullying, and bullying by coaches, is any more now than, say, 20 or 50 or 100 years ago?  My gut feeling is that it is far less now, but I have little basis for that feeling other than that we pay attention to it now so it would be weeded out sooner.

The comparison was athlete to non-athlete, so the reference to years in the past is irrelevant. That said, what the swimmers at Cal endured was awful and the administration did nothing. I've seen coaches bully, abuse and threaten high school athletes, including my own, first hand. I've seen school administrations ignore the issue, as well. So it still happens. Add on the sexual abuse of athletes such as evident by the cases of the US gymnastics doctor and the So Cal polo coach and I'd say the abuse levels are quite possibly higher today than 20, 50 or 100 years ago. 20, 50, or 100 years ago women's sports were a fraction of what they are today and the opportunity for abuse is now exponentially higher. . . .

Mick and newguy, so sorry for your losses. Mental health is an important issue, and the stigma needs to go away, yet some still blame the victim. . . .

[cardcrimson]

Suicide rates are up across the board, though not to the extent they appear to be with athletes. I'd guess the added pressure to perform on the field, court or pool adds to it, and to some extent bad behavior by coaches (see Teri McKeever). Bullying by coaches happens not just at the college level, either, and is a serious problem administrations don't appear to want to address.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/8273...s-by-year/

Why would one believe bullying, and bullying by coaches, is any more now than, say, 20 or 50 or 100 years ago?  My gut feeling is that it is far less now, but I have little basis for that feeling other than that we pay attention to it now so it would be weeded out sooner.

The comparison was athlete to non-athlete, so the reference to years in the past is irrelevant. That said, what the swimmers at Cal endured was awful and the administration did nothing. I've seen coaches bully, abuse and threaten high school athletes, including my own, first hand. I've seen school administrations ignore the issue, as well. So it still happens. Add on the sexual abuse of athletes such as evident by the cases of the US gymnastics doctor and the So Cal polo coach and I'd say the abuse levels are quite possibly higher today than 20, 50 or 100 years ago. 20, 50, or 100 years ago women's sports were a fraction of what they are today and the opportunity for abuse is now exponentially higher. . . .

Mick and newguy, so sorry for your losses. Mental health is an important issue, and the stigma needs to go away, yet some still blame the victim. . . .