Retired National Football League Players Are Not at Greater Risk for Suicide

Objective: Some researchers have claimed that former National Football League (NFL) players are at increased risk for suicide as a clinical feature of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This review examines the literature on risk for suicide in former professional football players, and the association between suicide and CTE.

Method: A narrative review of the literature published between 1928 and 2018.

Results: Between 1928 and 2009, suicide was not considered to be a clinical feature of CTE in the literature. The best available evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that former NFL football players are at lesser risk for suicide, not greater risk, compared to men in the general population. However, surveys have revealed that a substantial minority of former NFL players have depression and other mental health problems, chronic pain and opioid use is relatively common, and those with depression and chronic pain also have greater life stress and financial difficulties. That minority would be at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Conclusions: Researchers and clinicians are encouraged to be cautious and circumspect when considering the clinical presentation of former athletes, and to not assume that depression and suicidality are caused by specific types of neuropathology. This represents a reductionistic and Procrustean view. Some former football players have mental health problems, but it should not be assumed uncritically that the underlying cause is an inexorably progressive neurodegenerative disease. Providing evidence-informed and evidence-supported treatments for depression and suicidality might reduce suffering and improve their functioning.