Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Suicide among eminent artists.

A Preti¹, P Miotto

¹CMG, Psychiatry Branch Cagliari, Italy. apreti@tin.it

Psychological Reports

|April 16, 1999

Summary

This study found that poets and writers have a higher suicide risk than other artists. Financial stress and mental health conditions may contribute to this unique pattern in creative professions.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Olfactory dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Rhinology·2024

Same author

Careful classification of potential bedaquiline resistance mutations is critical when analysing their clinical impact.

The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease·2024

Same author

Correction to: Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the SNOT-22 into Italian.

European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery·2022

Same author

Making IGRA testing easier: First performance report of QIAreach QFT for tuberculosis infection diagnosis.

Pulmonology·2021

Same author

Insight into susceptibility genes associated with bipolar disorder: a systematic review.

European review for medical and pharmacological sciences·2021

Same author

Effect of surgery, delivery device and head position on sinus irrigant penetration in a cadaver model.

The Journal of laryngology and otology·2021

Area of Science:

Psychiatry
Sociology
Art History

Background:

Suicide risk varies across professions.
Eminent artists represent a unique demographic for studying suicide.
Previous research has not extensively detailed suicide patterns within specific artistic fields.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate suicide risk by profession among eminent artists.
To compare suicide rates across visual and literary art categories.
To identify potential contributing factors to suicide in artists.

Main Methods:

Utilized biographical data from Garzanti's Encyclopedia for artists deceased in the 1800s and 1900s.
Compared suicide rates across six professions: architects, painters, sculptors, writers, poets, and playwrights.
Analyzed suicide ratios and mean ages of death for different artist groups.

Main Results:

A total of 59 suicides (1.90%) were observed in 3,093 artists.
Women artists had a higher suicide ratio (4.30%) than men (1.75%).
Poets and writers showed higher-than-average suicide risk; painters and architects had lower risk.

Conclusions:

Suicide patterns among artists differ from the general population, with higher risk in literary fields.
Financial difficulties and rejection-related stress may increase suicide risk for artists.
The link between creativity, mental disorders like manic-depression, and suicide warrants further investigation.

Related Experiment Videos