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Creative people are known to be more prone to depression but new evidence shows backstage arts workers may be just as vulnerable as their colleagues in the spotlight.
The initial phase of a national study into the Australian entertainment industry has identified extensive mental health risks arising as a result of a culture that is unhealthy, competitive, and lacking appropriate social support structures.
The study, conducted by the charity Entertainment Assist, has identified suicide, attempted suicide and suicidal ideation (being preoccupied with suicide, ranging from fleeting thoughts through to concrete plans for killing oneself) as being a major issue for particular sectors of the industry.
The largest number of responses identifying suicide as an issue of concern came from broadcasting, film and recorded media equipment operators, a group which includes sound technicians, camera operators, projectionists, light technicians, television equipment operators, roadies and performing arts technicians.
One respondent commented the high level of suicide within the industry was evident to anyone who worked in performing arts.
‘Everyone in our industry knows at least four people who killed themselves. I know more than four.’
These findings are particularly concerning in light of a 2002 study in the USA which found performing artists were more than twice as likely to commit suicide as the average American.
Susan Cooper, General Manager, Entertainment Assist, said: ‘While the industry is full of creative, passionate people, they’re in an environment with a negative culture of bullying, criticism, professional jealousy and sexual harassment. There are obviously irregular hours which lead to bad sleeping patterns and self-medication and as a result of all of that we’ve certainly noted that mental health is a serious issue in the entertainment industry.
‘We knew that anecdotally of course, but really what the first phase of research is showing is that we now have some evidence and can prove the accuracy of that anecdotal evidence that we had.’
Entertainment Assist’s initial report, Pride, Passion & Pitfalls is based on a series of face-to-face interviews conducted with an admittedly small sample group of only 36 people.
Of these, 44% were performing artists and music composers; 33% were performing arts support workers; and 22.2% were broadcasting, film and recorded media equipment operators.
Entertainment Assist is now conducting phase two of their research, an anonymous, online survey. The charity is aiming for 3000 participants to complete the survey by the end of April.
‘That’s why this next phase is so important, because from that we’ll then ensure that we’ve got a proper evidence base so we can actually tailor targeted support programs, and obviously that’s the stuff that’s vital to the future health and well-being of entertainment industry workers,’ Cooper said.
‘And the reason we’re asking so many questions is because we can measure that back against the general population. And all of this data that we’re gathering will be measured against ABS stats, because that’s the key – working out what makes the people in this industry tick compared against the general population. Then we can work out what we can do to help them.’
Australian Suicide Prevention Foundation spokesperson, Clinical Associate Professor David Horgan said: ‘I think the population in general would be a bit shocked to realise that while the commonest cause of death for people under the age of 15 is cancer – and these are Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for 2012 – the commonest cause of death for the age group 15 to 25, and 25 to 35 is suicide; and indeed 35 to 45.
‘And for every suicide, which is actually about 50 a week in total in Australia, there are about 30 times that number of people, certainly in the younger age groups, attempting suicide. So it’s not just the number of people who die, but the number of people who feel things are so emotionally painful that the choice of ending their life seems a better solution than staying alive.’
People were more likely to attempt suicide under the influence of alcohol, Horgan continued.
‘When people are drinking, their logic gets washed away in effect, and their emotions take over. And if their emotions are negative or they are distressed, then they do not have any counterbalancing logic which is going to say to them “Yes, something bad has happened but I will get over it”. Or “Yes, I do feel a bit depressed but if it continues I’ll go and see my GP, or go and talk to someone about it, or it will pass.” They’re like helpless victims, almost, of their emotions when they are drinking heavily. And that then increases the risk of what we call impulsive self-harm behaviours,’ he said.
Alarmingly, alcohol abuse as a way of self-medicating depression is rife in the performing arts community, according to Associate Professor Ian Maxwell, from the University of Sydney’s Department of Performance Studies, one of the co-authors of a 2014 study produced in partnership with the Equity Foundation, the Actor’s Wellbeing Study.
‘We used a series of psychometric surveys to assess levels of stress, anxiety and depression, and I think the key finding is that male actors in particular … were mildly depressed. So across the population, mildly depressed. And heightened levels of anxiety and stress across women and men, but male depression really turned up. And a significantly higher proportion of severely depressed men in particular,’ Maxwell said.
‘We then also asked what people did to relax or let go after performing an emotionally or physically demanding role, so what we discovered is of our sample of 780, nearly 350 of them reported using alcohol; so that is as a direct response to the stresses they felt as part of their work. So that’s not social drinking – that’s using alcohol to come down.
‘About 70 or 80 talked about using illegal substances, and a smaller proportion talked about using legal substances – in other words prescription medication.
And that was in response to a very explicit question about using these substances not as part of your day to day life, but as a means of self-medicating. So we think that’s pretty big for almost half the sample to be saying “alcohol is what we do to cope”,’ he said.
Towards a healthier lifestyle
Entertainment Assist’s Susan Cooper hopes the data the charity is collecting (with the financial support of the Pratt Foundation) will contribute to changing the industry for the better.
‘In the long term, from our perspective, this is about providing better mental health support for the Australian entertainment worker. We would love to see a generational change achieved, and that’s going to take time, because nobody is looking at those workers now who are at the beginning of their careers and perhaps tailoring support programs or prevention programs that will actually educate people to how to manage their health and well-being,’ she said.
‘Certainly our vision is to imagine a world where the mental health of entertainment industry workers is just as important as the health and safety regime attached to rigging and ladders. And that’s where we need to get to.’
Associate Professor Ian Maxwell also hopes to see such research as the Actor’s Wellbeing Study contribute to lasting cultural change.
‘What I would hope to get out of this kind of work is an understanding on the part of producers and employers in particular, and training institutions, that there is something here, some pressure that’s got to be taken off these people,’ he said.
‘One of the things we’re seeing really clearly … is that most actors are able to talk about their warm-up routines – people are trained into that – but we got very little sense of the other end of the evening: how do you actually transition back into the world? And that’s where people say “yeah, we go out drinking”. And we all know the stage door pressures to get people out of the building – I’m just wondering whether there is room for theatre companies to think about making sure stages are open for an extra 45 minutes and making sure actors get together to do warm-downs, or something that recognises that this is a key moment in actors’ day to day lives.
‘People are telling us that they do find it difficult to come out of performance and that the standard thing is just to slide off for a drink, and then we’re seeing World Health Organisation guidelines are telling us that these people are doing terrible damage to themselves, and I think there is a level at which we have to think about drinking habits and changing social habits, but I think the companies have got to take some responsibility for it; I really do,’ Maxwell concluded.
The Australian Suicide Prevention Foundation’s Clinical Associate Professor David Horgan identified a number of strategies which artists could employ to stave off suicidal thoughts.
‘Tell yourself what you’d tell a friend. You would never advise a friend to die. And none of us, faced with or listening to a friend’s problems, would say to that friend “having thought about your problems I really think you should kill yourself”. That is so bizarre on the face of it; we would never say that to somebody else – we would always say that there are solutions.
‘So ideally, if people can remember that, they may give themselves the same good advice they would give a friend,’ he said.
Horgan also advised people to change the way they might broach the difficult subject of mental health with friends.
‘Of course it’s very difficult, when you see that somebody is distressed and not himself or herself, to raise the issue. And what I advocate is that someone might say to a friend, “On a zero to 10 scale, how are you?” That is a much more open question rather than saying “are you ok?” to which the only answer is yes or no. So I would suggest that as a strategy which allows people to perhaps ventilate a little more easily as to why they’re a five out of 10 rather than nine out of 10 in well-being,’ he said.
To participate in Entertainment Assist’s anonymous online mental health and wellbeing survey visit entertainmentassist.org.au.
If any of the issues raised in this article cause you distress please contact Lifeline’s 24 hour telephone crisis support line: 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au. Assistance is also available via www.beyondblue.org.au and for young people, via www.headspace.org.au.
