First, some statistics that have been found over the years shed some light on the depth of depression and abuse in the legal profession. For instance, 10% of the general population will have substance abuse problems, while the number is 15-18% among lawyers. Almost 12% of attorneys in one study contemplate suicide at least once a month. Over half of lawyers report experiencing stress at levels higher than the general public. The problem also affects male lawyers to a greater degree.
A number of studies have been done over the years that illuminate the type of person that goes into the legal profession. For instance, perfectionism and competition are two personality traits that many attorneys share, which may make them less likely to seek help if they are feeling depressed or suicidal. A perfectionist on the edge will try to cover up the problem and keep going on with his job, rather than admitting there is a problem and looking for solutions.
Another personality trait common among lawyers is pessimism. A study done by Johns Hopkins in 1990 showed that, when it comes to graduate school programs, students who were optimistic performed better than those who were pessimistic. There was only one exception where the pessimists did better than those with rosier outlooks on life. Of course, this was law school. Such a negative outlook on the future can lead to depression, disillusionment, and an unwillingness to trust anyone.
So studies have shown that the legal profession may just attract the type of personality who will later go on to commit suicide as a response to feelings of depression and stress. But what is it about the job of being a lawyer itself that can also contribute to the extraordinarily high rate of attorneys taking their own lives? Unfortunately, much of the work done by those in the legal profession is little more than acting like petty tyrants, distrusting everyone, and manipulating as many people as possible.
Many lawyers spend most of their days interacting with the State on behalf of their clients. Others are actual representatives of the State, including prosecuting attorneys. Judges are often lawyers who are forced to cross-dress, wear black dresses, and sit on a wooden platform raised a couple of feet off the ground to cover up their own insecurities about lording over people. The highest calling of any attorney is to be a cross-dresser in Washington, D.C., as part of the Supreme Court.
Language used by lawyers is also purposely deceptive and incomprehensible to the average person. And it was designed to be so. A system of government justice should be available to all people at an affordable price. A system of State rulemaking, however, is meant to deny justice, keep as many people as it can from using the system, and make it incredibly expensive to take part in the legal system. Justice is not the pursuit -- interpretations of laws to fit private interests is the goal.
This corruption of language is what attorneys have dedicated their lives to furthering. All of those motions, court filings, and court orders are written with words that have meanings very different from the ones used by the rest of us. And only another person with legal training is usually able to get the general idea of a document issued by or in court.
Under all the paperwork of being an attorney is a gun. While other professions use voluntary transactions and communication as the basis of their interactions, lawyers are much different. They spend their days deciding best how the government should use its monopoly of violence to force people to do whatever they feel like making them do. No one goes into court voluntarily; most people have to be forced in by the threat of increasing violence. And lawyers set the machine into motion.
It should be remembered that most legislators are also lawyers, with even more attorneys enforcing the rules in government agencies and interpreting them in the various courts. The average person is never involved in the process of a person's opinion becoming a binding law with set penalties, fines, prison terms, and other punishments. All of this petty squabbling over what laws to make and what they mean to control the life of people in the voluntary sector of society is done by lawyers.
Corrupting language to control the population with millions of pages of laws and interpretations, all the while attempting to hide the government guns under all of the paperwork and legalese. No wonder so many lawyers feel depressed, turn to substance abuse, and eventually commit suicide to escape! The system sounds as horrible from the outside as it obviously is to work on it from the inside, and many attorneys seem to agree by their high rates of job unhappiness.
This article is not about solutions, as finding a reprieve from one's depression and unsatisfying job is an individual matter. Also, the legal profession, medical industry, and legislators have made it clear that only a state-licensed doctor or psychiatrist can give out medical advice and diagnose any one person or another with depression or any other disease or psychological disorder.
Additional Resources:
Depression, The Lawyers' Epidemic: How You Can Recognize the Signs
Studies show high rates of attorney depression, substance abuse, and suicide. What do practicing lawyers need to know?
Lawyer Personalities May Contribute to Increased Suicide Risk