Table 2.

Case presentation comparisons

Categories	Case 1: “Allan”	Case 2: Dean Potter	Case 3: Dan Osman
Baseline social functioning	Excellent	Fair to limited	Variable/poor
Risk for extreme sports	Medium	Very high	Very high
Level of skill attained at chosen extreme sport	“Weekend warrior”	Elite professional	Elite professional
Relationships, family stability	Fairly good	Relatively unstable	Moderately unstable
Genetic predisposition for risk taking	Unknown	High	High
Treatment history	No known treatment	No known treatment	No known treatment
Presumptive psychiatric diagnosis	Dysthymia (persistent depression); rule out ADHD; rule out SUDs, partner/relational problems, and generalized anxiety disorder	Impulse control disorder, ADHD, generalized anxiety disorder, conduct disorder, parent-child problems, narcissism; rule out bipolar disorder 1 (manic with psychotic features); rule out SUDs	ADHD, severe conduct disorder, cluster B personality traits; rule out SUDs
Expressed suicidality	Unknown	Extremely cavalier	Very cavalier
Conscious awareness of likelihood of death	Risk taker aware of life-endangering nature of sport, embraced the thrill-seeking component of his sport	Fatalistic, intimately aware, and embracing closeness to death as part of the excitement and challenge of his sport	Enjoyed the ability to “cheat” death and felt “bulletproof”

ADHD = attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; SUDs= substance use disorders.