Fame and the life it brings seems desirable, but there's ample evidence that would indicate otherwise.
If you think about it, it's no wonder so many famous people are depressed, dysfunctional, or disgusting - their self worth and ability to self-evaluate are completely distorted. And the pressure of maintaining that fame, that score that many believe determines how important you are to society, is crushing.
If you're not happy, not content, not satisfied with yourself when you're a "nobody", becoming a "somebody" won't change that. Whatever issues you brought to the table before you got fame and power won't be improved once fame and/or power is acquired. The Good Book says something along those lines a few thousand years ago:
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. - Luke 16:10
Having needs is one way to fill the existential emptiness.
Water that is wet is also dry, and water that is dry is also wet!
Doctors don't have higher rates of death by suicide.
I think female doctors do have a higher rate of death by suicide than women in general.
I assumed that the trend applied to males too but now I am quite curious as to why it does not apply.
Regional statistics would be helpful too- some have thought that Finns and Russians carry a genetic marker for suicidal tendencies.
Most women use pills, men use guns.
The ratio is just as lopsided with countries with strict gun control (e.g. Britain).
Alternative hypothesis: death is the goal for many men, while women often use suicide attempts as a cry for help.
Her cause of death was brutal, and she was going through immense pressure during her last research project. A self-influcted gunshot to the mouth sounds like a horrible way to go.
> A 2014 federal Centers for Disease Control online survey of 10,000 practicing veterinarians published last year found that more than one in six American veterinarians has considered suicide.
The study: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6405a6.htm
and those challenges are usually poorly understood
It's like wearing a heavy cloak around, after having done so for most of your life, day after day, year after year. If you're a proper adult, age-wise, all of the effort in the world doesn't guarantee that cloak will fall off one day. The idea that it's fixable doesn't play itself out in real life. I would posit that this is why riches and fame only temporarily relieve the weight of it.
... suicide is all too common in our world, and some professions (especially doctors) are affected more than others.
All of the money and fame in the world cannot protect you from the depths of your mind.
I hope that anyone struggling with this affliction can know its ok to step away from everything they're doing, get a breath of fresh air, and know that it's ok for everything to go wrong in life.
Your life is always still valuable and fixable.