On the basis of my own limited experience, faculty are as likely as graduate students to commit suicide. I know of four colleagues in my discipline who committed suicide within the last few years, two of whom were prominent in their field and to all appearances successful. Although suicide "attempts" are less obvious, I know of one recent case in my discipline and two more in other disciplines. My own attempt, which came the year after I was granted tenure, should be added to the list. Without denying the truth of what people say about difficult or even abusive relationships between supervisors and their students, I find it far too facile to suggest that this explains suicide or attempted suicide among graduate students. Academics for the most part work in a world where the tangible rewards are relatively paltry and mostly come down to recognition and admiration among one's peers: this is what academics fight and fret over, often in ways that leave bystanders breathless. The demand for recognition goes a long way towards fueling the high motivation and readiness to engage in self-exploitation that are necessary -- but not sufficient -- for academic success. If most people feel they never have enough money, academics generally feel they never have enough recognition. I think a good case for self-selection can be made, but in any event the high psychological stakes involved do not contribute to what most people would see as healthy personality development. The personal stresses of thwarted ambitions, competitiveness (one's own and that of colleagues), fear that one's fate is in the hands of capricious and indifferent powers go hand in hand with the personal costs of placing what other people call "a life" on hold while pursuing one's calling. While these characterize the life of graduate students, this is really only the beginning: success in the form of entering a lifetime of academic work offers an endless vista of such experiences. None of this would be tolerable if we didn't love our work. If we eliminated all the obvious abuses of power that one finds in relations between supervisors and students (or between colleagues), the basic issues about the "psychological economy" of academic life would remain. If all supervisors were, as European usage puts it, like parents -- caring but demanding, warm but stern -- I doubt that graduate students (or the professionals they become) would escape the real personal pressures that academic life inevitably imposes.
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