Study: Suicide planning 4x higher for Aus industry professionals

A world first research initiative released by Entertainment Assist and Victoria University has disturbingly revealed the extent of the health and wellbeing problems devastating the Australian entertainment industry.

General health, mental problems and suicidality severely affects a large portion of professionals involved in the Australian entertainment industry, according to the report titled ‘Working in the Australian Entertainment Industry: Final Report’.

The report indicates a number of alarming statistics that plague the industry as compared to statistics gathered from the general population.

Suicide ideation is six times greater in the entertainment industry, suicide planning is over four times greater and suicide attempts are more than double the general population.

Anxiety and depression symptomatology is a major area of concern as indicators of moderate to severe anxiety are 10 times higher and depression symptomatology five times over the general population norms.

As further indicated by the report, financial problems are a key contributor to a range of health and social problems among Austalian industry professionals, revealing that 35% of all industry workers earn a mere annual industry income of below $20,000.

2,904 industry workers from a broad range of sectors in the industry, including performers, producers, sound and lighting technicians and roadies, are represented in the report, while 36 professionals from all States and Territories of Australia undertook in-depth interviews.

At variance with the data, the majority of Australian entertainment industry workers express an overwhelming passion for their creative work despite the alarming discoveries, as disclosed in the report.

Professor Adrian Fisher, Head of Psychology, College of Arts, Victoria University, has heeded a strong warning to the seemingly toxic industry that has long held a culture of extreme competition, bullying, sexual assault, racism and sexism.

“These findings strongly suggest the entertainment and cultural industry is in severe distress, and in urgent need of early prevention and intervention programs to reduce the impacts of those with health and wellbeing problems and to prevent new occurrences,” Fisher says.

Entertainment Assist will utilise the findings from the report to generate awareness and change. This will include educating industry workers to take care of self and support their peers, as well as the provision of tailored mental health training programs.

General Manager of Entertainment Assist, Susan Cooper, told TMN the purpose behind the research initiative is to better understand the problem in order to provide potential solutions.

“With a mission tochampion generational change which would see the Australian Entertainment Industry actively engaged in mental health support, we knew that to solve the problem, we needed to better understand the problem.”

From there, Cooper says Entertainment Assist can “inform the development of tailored mental health support and prevention programs; and, reduce stigma around mental health in the industry by bringing the industry’s issues out from the shadows and encouraging conversations about mental health.”

The full report can be viewed at Entertainment Assist’s website.