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Depress Stockbrokers

Dubbed by the Wall Street Journal as the “Frazier Crane of Wall Street,” Alden Cass, a doctoral candidate at Fort Lauderdale’s Nova Southeastern University has conducted a landmark study on Wall Street stockbrokers’ mental health.

His study showed brokers are roughly four times more likely to suffer from depression than the average person.

“Many of the 26 brokers in our pilot survey group showed evidence of clinical depression,” Cass says. “Twenty-three percent met clinical standards of major depression – which means they could require professional help, perhaps requiring medication – and 38 percent met subclinical levels of major depression, which meant they could benefit from the help of a mental health professional.

“Many in the group showed signs of drug and alcohol abuse, some had recurring thoughts of hurting themselves and had profound feelings of guilt and inadequacy, and most were unaware of their problems.“

Cass became interested in the problems of stockbrokers when he noticed his friends, who had become stockbrokers, had changed. He explains, that quite simply, “they were less happy than I remembered and they seemed depressed.”

Cass interviewed and tested the stockbrokers in New York last summer and found some disturbing patterns.

“A lot of these guys have manic-depressive personalities that are enhanced by the volatility of the market. They lack the insight or the coping skills to deal with the stresses of the market,” Cass says. “As a result, it’s natural to find higher levels of depression among them.”

But that didn’t seem to damper their financial success. The stockbrokers earned an average of $136,000 a year.

“I also found that those brokers who showed the greatest signs of depression, anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and poor coping skills were also the most successful financially, “ Cass says.

The brokers in the study tended to be loners, spending 8.46 hours a week on solitary activities and only 5.85 hours a week on group activities. They rarely missed work, calling in sick an average of twice a year, but suffered from the flu or a virus as least twice as often.

“When we talked about some of their problems, the brokers denied them at first and seemed afraid of their emotions. But the more we talked, the more aware they became of how much they were suffering. A few of them broke down and cried when they realized how unhappy they were,” Cass says.

Although these brokers are financially successful, Cass doesn’t believe their success will necessarily continue over the long term. Ultimately, he believes the stress may lead to burnout, absenteeism and a loss of productivity.

He also points out that “one of the symptoms of depression is the inability to make decisions and sound judgments – and if the public becomes aware of this, they’re going to be reluctant to invest with stockbrokers who may be suffering from depression.”

The solution?

“You can’t change the stock market,” Cass says, “but the study does point to the need for Wall Street firms to include stress-management as part of their training programs.”

Courtesy of FeatureSource

Other Web Sites of Interest:

Job Stress - Early Warning Signs

Depression Could Cost You Your Job

Museum of American Financial History