rick12

After the discussions we have had about being underpayed and overworked I found this study interesting. It studied rates of depression among different occupations. Engineering, architecture and surveyors had the lowest levels of depression at 4.3%. As a comparison, lawyers were at 6.4%, doctors at 9.6%, and arts, design and entertainment were at 9.1%. So perhaps you won't make as much money as some folks, but the odds are that you will be happier.

http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k7/depression/occupation.pdf

rick

cheers

The reasons that the levels of depression are low?

1. Building something that will stand for at least six or seven decades is satisfying.

2. Building something with a large group of people is entertaining--mostly.

3. This is an old person's profession. It takes eons to absorb all the learning, but once it's learned, you can toddle along into your 80s and 90s. I once read that old composers and architects live long lives because they are still earning admiration in the last decades of their lives.

The other arts professions are very youth oriented.

sashimi46

i thought architects died young from overworking and from all the stress...haha

most architects i've met at work tend to always have issues with people they have to work with.... especially contractors. apparently if there's a problem, it's always the contractor's fault.

larationalist

I would argue that you've assumed a cause/effect relationship that does not necessarily exist. What if the reason for the low number is that people prone to depression are less attracted to architecture in the first place? Or that people who are depressed cannot take the heavy load of criticism and drop it?

Lp75

An interesting observation on the article mentioned above. While this category showed the lowest over all rate of depression, the article shows the split between male and female. The rate for males is 3.3 (very low) but the rate for females was 11.1 which was definitely on the high side. Does this possibly tie into Cheers comments regarding the small percentage of females who continue on in this profession?

ken285

Wouldn't this be true for all the other professions as well? Why would they not drop out of their respective professions for the same reasons?

larationalist

Because you've got to work in *some* field, and architecture can be particularly demeaning in the early years.

I'm not saying that this is definitely the case, but trying to point out that the direct cause/effect relationship is an assumption without basis, as other equally probably possibilities exist.

cheers

That could be the case, lp.

Recently, I've been nursing the theory that the current manner of educating girls creates a culture clash with some professions--specifically architecture and surgery.

I've just been through an agonizing process with a female planner. The obsessing this young woman did! .07 this! .07 that! Endless! And for nothing! .07 on a 300 ft tower? A giant time-waste. A cruel frustration for the rest of us (men plus me and her female boss).

Architecture is an imperfect endeavor. There is no perfection. There are no 1000 % batting averages--for any category. Girls arrive out of high school with the notion that perfection is success, 100% is happiness, 99% =reward. None of those rules apply when building architecture. Sometimes 60% is sublime. Sometimes a foolish mistake leads to the creation of a stunning space. Thus, foolish mistakes have to be treated with respect. I never expect to walk through my work without cringing at small errors here and there. Sometimes more than a thousand people (men mostly) have been involved in building a piece of architecture--each one adding his own tiny errors.

Anyway, the idea that women find architecture more depressing because they are not achieving the same status does not surprise me. I wonder if the frustration has deeper, innocuous cultural roots, however.

Also, for the record, working with the contractors is one of the highlights of the job. There are amazing craftsmen (and a few women) all over the world. If you want them to build your beautiful architecture, lead you to higher and higher forms of craft, it helps if they admire, respect and even love you.

rick12

Lararationalist; are the numbers that way because architecture attracts the kind of folks who are not prone to deppression, as opposed to the work being less depressing? I suspect a little of both.

I won't dispute women's issues in the profession, but I wonder if things are any better in law, or accounting, or medicine? Seems like the same family vs. job pressures would exist in all of them.

I also have to say that my attitude towards contractors has changed. Of course eight years ago we merged a 46 person architectural practice with a 700 person construction firm so I have a different point of view. We still do the majority of our work as independent architects and contractors, so I get to see a lot of architects drawings. I am ashamed to see the kind of drawings we as a profession are producing these days and how much of a burden we place on the contractors to figure out what they are supposed to build. Our primary worry as a profession seems to be in covering our rear ends and taking as little responsibility as possible, not in helping the clients get what they need. If we keep this up we will lose control of this industry to the contractors, and it is going to be our own fault.

rick

brothel

That statistic doesn't make sense to me. Typically, Architects are very heavily influenced by art and design. I need more professions to make a better comparison. Plus, what's the source of the statistic?

ken285

The source? Read the link. It's in the second paragraph.

chisquared

I just want to add that the oldest working person in the world was an architect. I think that shows how passionate architects can just keep on going on with their careers happily.

a778999

My architecture class (taking it for core requirement) is seriously depressing me.

mjo2

I have experienced depression but I am in love with architecture. So it is not that people who are prone to depression are not attracted to architecture.

Lori1122

i just read something like this in an issue of TIME