Want to learn more/help?
@EquityUK (UK)
@SAGAFTRA (US)
@actors_equity (US)
Read “Creativity and the Performing Artist” by Thomson & Jaque.
Support the arts AND the humans who make them. 💙
#MentalHealthMatters #SaveTheArts

What should we do?
• Teach identity diversification in training (teaching, directing, producing, etc.)
• Annual mental health/identity check-ins
• Real transition programs like athletes get
Sustainable careers need multiple selves.

“Conservatory training” and “Performer after career ends”
“We taught you to pour your entire self into the role”
Maybe, just maybe, we have to stop doing this.

This is what “retirement” too often feels like.

Why does this matter to everyone?
Because performers reflect our society back to us. If we let them burn out and break after giving everything, we lose voices we need. And these are preventable tragedies. #ArtsMatter

Flowchart of how exclusive performer identity predicts post-career depression.

Want to see real data? This key 2018 Australian study on actors’ psychological wellbeing is eye-opening (full PDF, free to read):
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
@AustralianPsych @MEAA (Australia’s performers union)

Here’s the proposed pathway:
Exclusive performer identity → sudden loss of gigs & routine → erosion of purpose & belonging → clinical depression.
Evidence for every link already exists across studies.

My research paper adapts the athletic identity model to performing artists. Prediction: the more your identity is ONLY “performer,” the worse post-career depression will be — through losing daily structure, purpose, and community.

The “post-show drop” — that crash after a contract ends — is like a mini-retirement. The more exclusive your performer identity, the deeper and longer the depression lasts.
Imagine that... but permanent.

Why? Early specialization, constant public judgment of body/voice, no pensions, ageism in casting, and training that deliberately blurs “self” and “role.”
Many say: “I’m nothing without the stage.” Heartbreaking.

Sport psychology gave us a clue: athletes who tie their entire identity to “I am an athlete” suffer the most when they retire. Exclusive identity = bigger crash.
Turns out performers have EVEN stronger performance-based identities than elite athletes.

While still working, performers already face depression & anxiety rates 2–4× higher than average. Suicide rates in the industry are shocking.

But what happens AFTER the stage lights go out forever? Almost no research existed... until recently.

When the final curtain falls on a performing artist's career — actors, dancers, musicians — there's often no retirement party. It all just ends in silence.

Many retire suddenly, involuntarily, with zero preparation and the mental health toll is Devastating. 🖤
#PerformingArts #MentalHealth