Anthony Bourdain’s Suicide Prompts Those In Notoriously Brutal Culinary Industry To Speak Out About Mental Health Struggles
Insiders have long worried privately about the lifestyle of people who work in the restaurant industry, which has one of the highest rates of illicit drug use and alcoholism and a tradition of masking mental-health struggles. In other news on mental health: farmers devastated by Florence are especially vulnerable to depression and judges are starting to favor outpatient treatment over hospitalization.
The Wall Street Journal:
A Reckoning With The Dark Side Of The Restaurant Industry
When television personality and former chef Anthony Bourdain killed himself in June, Charles Ford, the general manager of a high-end restaurant in Chicago, took the news as a personal call to action: He would no longer be silent about his three suicide attempts. “I don’t want to hide it anymore,” says Mr. Ford, 31, who says he slashed his wrists on three occasions between late 2015 and spring 2016. Workers with suicidal impulses and other emotional crises often hide their pain in his profession, Mr. Ford says. “We need to do everything we can to turn this around, and the first step is saying it out loud.” (McLaughlin and Osipova, 11/12)
North Carolina Health News:
Mental Health Concerns As Florence Ruins Farms, Crops, Harvests
As Mickey Simmons looked over his washed out fields and collapsed barn, he said this could be his last year of farming. At 72 years old, the Carteret County farmer had been cutting back, only farming about 175 acres of soybeans. He thought he would retire in the next few years. But Hurricane Florence had him considering throwing in the towel early. (Knopf, 11/13)
Kaiser Health News:
With Hospitalization Losing Favor, Judges Order Outpatient Mental Health Treatment
When mental illness hijacks Margaret Rodgers’ mind, she acts out.Rodgers, 35, lives with depression and bipolar disorder. When left unchecked, the conditions drive the Alabama woman to excessive spending, crying and mania. Last autumn, Rodgers felt her mind unraveling. Living in Birmingham, she was uninsured, unable to afford treatment and in the throes of a divorce. Although Rodgers traveled south to her brother’s house in Foley, Ala., for respite, she couldn’t escape thoughts of suicide, which one day led her to his gun. (Rodriguez, 11/13)
