THE SUICIDE rate among veterinarians is four times that among the general public, a conference was told yesterday.
Speaking at a global veterinary conference on pets at the RDS in Dublin, Irish psychotherapist Martina Anne Kinsella said research had found the veterinary profession to have the highest suicide rate of all professions, and double that of doctors and dentists.
Ms Kinsella said the statistics were alarming and could not be ignored, adding “everything must be done to encourage vets to speak out, seeking help rather than hiding their distress”.
She said “placing the profession on a pedestal is to be absolutely and completely discouraged, as such an environment leaves no room for vulnerability”, serving to pressurise many into ignoring their internal battles in an attempt to prove they could handle the pressure on their own.
John Hill, a vet from Crumlin in Co Antrim and senior vice-president of the Society for Practising Veterinary Surgeons, said suicide was the worst aspect of the veterinary profession.
Mr Hill said highly motivated people went into the veterinary profession but quickly found themselves disillusioned when they ended up working in an isolated area following graduation.
He added that stress and easy access to drugs contributed greatly to the high suicide rates.
He said he had suffered stress issues himself, and knew a great many other vets who had also gone through a bad patch, including one of his former veterinary classmates who had taken his own life.
Veterinarian Caroline Bäck said she personally knew five vets who had died through suicide and five more who had left their jobs due to stress in her 25 years of veterinary practice.
Ms Bäck said she too experienced stress: “I graduated from the Royal Veterinary College aged 23 and by the time I was 30, I had stopped working in clinical practice due to stress and isolation issues.”
Donal Connolly, former president of the vets’ representative body Veterinary Ireland, said professionals such as vets felt they could not be seen to be weak, and as a result they did not seek help when they needed it.
“Increased awareness is the solution,” he said.
The conference is the annual meeting of members from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association and the Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations.