Concussions and Suicide

Most talk about the consequences of concussions has to do with memory loss, headaches, and a general cognitive decline. Although there has not been much report on the massive amount of suicides after head injuries.

Recently, an article was published by the Washington Post where they demonstrated the terrifying link between concussions and suicide. While even though scientists have known that there is a correlation between concussions and suicide, it is hard to tell truly how many people have committed suicide because of their history of brain injury. It is documented that the risk of suicide increases by threefold for adults who have had previous concussions. This increase is substantial, yet is already mentioned!

The doctor who worked on this research project determine the threefold increase and was very surprised. He said he always had doubts that people ever fully recovered from concussions, but the results providing a threefold greater risk was devastatingly surprising. He noted that his research only involved those who had documented a serious brain injury, but did not include more mild concussions that were unreported. He believes that if those who had a less traumatic brain injury were involved the threefold increase of suicide would become even higher. Even though a brain injury may seem not as traumatic, the long-term effects are proving to be just as devastating as more high level traumas. The exact mechanism of how we heal after a concussion is not fully understood yet by scientists, which makes it increasingly more difficult and dangerous to evaluate mild concussions.

A media article was recently published where the author criticises the NFL’s protocol with concussion management and also shed light on all of the NFL players who have committed suicide and links to their multiple, unreported and maltreated, concussions. Larry Kelley, Andre Waters, Terry Long, Shane Dronett, Kenny McKinley, Dave Duerson, Mike Current, Ray Easterling, Kurt Crain, Junior Seau, and O. J. Murdock are all NFL players who have committed suicide within the past 10 years. In 2011, Dave Duerson committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest. He wrote in a suicide note that he wants his brain to be donated to scientific research because he believes the repetitive blows to the head lead to his depressions and inability to live.

Dave Duerson experienced injuries that made him want to no longer live. He was in so much pain, mental and physical, that he believed it would not be possible to continue to live his life. His story hardly made the papers. The NFL gave condolences to the family and left it as is.

“The injury of concussion is not the true problem; it is the mismanagement of this brain injury that is the real issue.” The NFL has been known to hide injury reports and disregard the media regarding their deceitful ways. The NFL is a prime example of the mismanagement of concussions. Up until around 2013, the NFL consistently denied any allegations that former players suicides had anything to do with concussions received during games and practices. Since then, many prestigious institutions have come forward with overwhelming evidence of the direct relationship between suicide and NFL head injuries, forcing the NFL to recognize the problem. The NFL has agreed on stopping the clock and having a “medical timeout” if a noticeable head injury occurs and forces the athlete to be evaluated by trainers. But of course, almost every time a “noticeable” concussion occurs on the playing field, with thousands of fans watching, the player is evaluated and allowed to jump right back into the game. A player not allowed to finish the game would sure cause unwanted backlash by the NFL, why take the risk?