How common is mental illness and drug addiction among climbers?

I have been curious. Coming from the community of BASE jumping and I can say mental illness / history of trauma and/ or drug use is pretty much the standard really. Like 50/50 whether any random jumper fits into the category or not. That seems to be the case in many extreme sports and so I am wondering how that translates over to climbing. Are these issues more common in climbers compared to the general public?

Fortunately, I meet a decent amount of climbers that are in recovery and have climbing to help keep a stable focus and to keep setting new goals for themselves. Of course we have the small percent of locals that use, but it doesn't seem to be as prominent of a feature among the community. At least in my area. 

I would say it's probably a higher correlation compared to other sports, but that's based on observation and not data.

97.6% and the rest are lying.

It'll depend on what your definition of a "drug" is. Caffeine? Ganja? Alcohol? Shrooms? Where's the line?

Maybe google it? e.g. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03029

I suspect its about the same as any other slice of the population.  Climbing is mainstream and most of the climbers i hang with are just regular people. If you are dirtbagging it and living on the road full time you will be hanging with a group of hard core missfits and your ratio of crazyness is going to go off the charts. If you are a weekend warrior you will most likly be hanging with parents, grand parents, students and professionals with the occasional carpenter thrown in.  Typical moder day climbing bums.. ;) 

Climbing IS the drug: akjournals.com/downloadpdf/…

The German Alpine Club did a study of risk management in climbers (in climbing gyms) and found no difference between the psychological profiles of the climbing population and the general population.

I think the percentage is going down not because the sheer number of the types you mention are decreasing, but the sheer total numbers are increasing rapidly.  And the increase is coming from "normal" people.

dave custerwrote:

Climbing IS the drug: akjournals.com/downloadpdf/…

The German Alpine Club did a study of risk management in climbers (in climbing gyms) and found no difference between the psychological profiles of the climbing population and the general population.

Yes, of course, they are German!  

Eric Engbergwrote:

I think the percentage is going down not because the sheer number of the types you mention are decreasing, but the sheer total numbers are increasing rapidly.  And the increase is coming from "normal" people.

What are 'normal people', Eric? Do we know any?

Alan Rubinwrote:

What are 'normal people', Eric? Do we know any?

They are out there and they are coming for us.  Better hurry and climb

I believe climbing is a way for many of us to channel certain tendencies into a relatively healthy activity. For me, my OCD, ADHD and somewhat addictive tendencies actually become an asset in the climbing world. It is better to become obsessed with that V7 stemming problem than to let yourself slip into drug addiction or alcoholism. Climbing gave me a reason to stay relatively clean and sober.

However, climbing may not be a good choice for overly unstable personalities. The temptation to begin toying with risky situations can be very addictive and therefore dangerous. I think there are a diversity of reasons people climb, not all of them are healthy reasons. It is probably wise to honestly examine your motivation for climbing especially if you are moving into increasingly committing and dangerous types of climbing. The same goes for any extreme sports: big-wave surfing, extreme mountain biking, skiing/boarding, BASE jumping, lion-taming…

I can think of more than a few well known climbers who are no longer with us, whose mental health, no doubt, was a factor in their demise. 

If the utter inability to modulate one's own emotions without some external locus of control is diagnostic criteria for mental illness, then I'd say our numbers are off the charts and the share of mentally ill climbers is increasing. In a sense, the more popular climbing styles are almost perfect fits for people who are so-afflicted. The climber has license to emote and demand reassurance, and has a captive audience in the belayer or spotter.

Obviously, were I healthy/neurotypical/well-adapted to modern society, such behavior wouldn't annoy me so much, so you can add me to the aggregate of mentally ill climbers.

Logan Petersonwrote:

If the utter inability to modulate one's own emotions without some external locus of control is diagnostic criteria for mental illness, then I'd say our numbers are off the charts and the share of mentally ill climbers is increasing. In a sense, the more popular climbing styles are almost perfect fits for people who are so-afflicted. The climber has license to emote and demand reassurance, and has a captive audience in the belayer or spotter.

Obviously, were I healthy/neurotypical/well-adapted to modern society, such behavior wouldn't annoy me so much, so you can add me to the aggregate of mentally ill climbers.

That first sentence is precious!

The real question is whether the increase in mentally ill climbers is proportional to the overall increase in mental illness in the general population. I don’t think this observed increase is unique to the climbing community. Everybody is going f&%#ing crazy, especially after the election. (Maybe it’s more of a democrat thing??? idk)

Isn’t the answer obvious? 

we interrupt this thread for downers and whiskey

I wondered who was keeping the Dimple Pinch brand in business. Had a bottle of that at camp since I was a kid and it was the only thing no one would touch, even in a drought

It all depends on which population you are sampling.

Recreational gym climbers and outdoor low-risk types probably show less mental illness (not a huge fan of that term) than the general population. By definition, they exercise, and gyms and outdoor crags function as important "third spaces" outside of work and home to meet like-minded people. Exercise and a sense of community are important resilience factors for mental health. 

High-risk outdoor types, in my experience, are much more prone to past histories of depression and other related conditions. However, I do not believe risky climbing causes these--rather, it can be a form of self-treatment. Drugs and other forms of addiction are often brought about by dopamine imbalance in the brain. People with skewed dopamine tolerances (from depression, PTSD, etc.) often pursue high-risk activities to generate a dopamine rush to return the brain to what feels like a baseline state. High-risk climbing cuts through the numbness for many in this population.

I personally have noticed that the free soloists, extreme highball boulderers, and high-risk alpine climbers that I've met have all either had past depression, past drug use, or past traumatic experiences (such as intensive military service)--things that can cause brain chemistry to go out of balance. Rather than climbing being a cause of their issues, they use the forced clarity that high-risk climbing provides to feel alive again. I don't think this is true 100% of the time, but it is definitely overrepresented in this population.

Is that a bad decision? Well, I'm a low-risk climber from the first group who gets all the endorphins I need from well-bolted 5.8 sport climbs. But you could argue risky climbing is much safer than a drug addiction. Safest still would be to treat the underlying condition to make sure that all risk decisions are being made with clarity.

I would imagine if the German Alpine Club redid their study and got a big enough sample size to split out these climbing sub-populations, you would indeed see a difference.

Philip Wirewrote:

It all depends on which population you are sampling.

High-risk outdoor types, in my experience, are much more prone to past histories of depression and other related conditions. However, I do not believe risky climbing causes these--rather, it can be a form of self-treatment. Drugs and other forms of addiction are often brought about by dopamine imbalance in the brain. People with skewed dopamine tolerances (from depression, PTSD, etc.) often pursue high-risk activities to generate a dopamine rush to return the brain to what feels like a baseline state. High-risk climbing cuts through the numbness for many in this population.

I personally have noticed that the free soloists, extreme highball boulderers, and high-risk alpine climbers that I've met have all either had past depression, past drug use, or past traumatic experiences (such as intensive military service)--things that can cause brain chemistry to go out of balance. Rather than climbing being a cause of their issues, they use the forced clarity that high-risk climbing provides to feel alive again. I don't think this is true 100% of the time, but it is definitely overrepresented in this population.

Oh shit, 

looks like trouble ahead

Philip Wirewrote:

It all depends on which population you are sampling.

Recreational gym climbers and outdoor low-risk types probably show less mental illness (not a huge fan of that term) than the general population. By definition, they exercise, and gyms and outdoor crags function as important "third spaces" outside of work and home to meet like-minded people. Exercise and a sense of community are important resilience factors for mental health. 

High-risk outdoor types, in my experience, are much more prone to past histories of depression and other related conditions. However, I do not believe risky climbing causes these--rather, it can be a form of self-treatment. Drugs and other forms of addiction are often brought about by dopamine imbalance in the brain. People with skewed dopamine tolerances (from depression, PTSD, etc.) often pursue high-risk activities to generate a dopamine rush to return the brain to what feels like a baseline state. High-risk climbing cuts through the numbness for many in this population.

I personally have noticed that the free soloists, extreme highball boulderers, and high-risk alpine climbers that I've met have all either had past depression, past drug use, or past traumatic experiences (such as intensive military service)--things that can cause brain chemistry to go out of balance. Rather than climbing being a cause of their issues, they use the forced clarity that high-risk climbing provides to feel alive again. I don't think this is true 100% of the time, but it is definitely overrepresented in this population.

I'mma get my popcorn out for this thread, its going to be fun to watch. Even though I'm one of the folks with totally messed up dopamine response.

I've been mountain biking and racing for over 27 years, and I've been returning to climbing lately after not having done it for close to 20 years... I'm a lot slower now and not as strong, plus a bunch of surgery over the years from breaking myself mountain biking over and over and over again... 

So climbing has refreshing way to get the happy brain chemicals that I need in order to pretend to be a functional person in normal people society.