In fact many are eventually well supported by their former colleagues who understand the ridiculous pressures of sleep deprivation, after-work boozing, prescription drugs (or otherwise) and other pitfalls of high pressure careers. Many are probably suffering those very problems and even teetering on the edge themselves.

For those who are post-breakdown, the hardest thing can be to see their former colleagues again. The Daily Mail interviewed one former Morgan Stanley high flyer who got too close to the sun but who has now made a fine recovery:

Aifric Campbell was used to success. So when she was made managing director on the trading floor of investment bank Morgan Stanley – the first woman to be appointed to that role – she didn’t hesitate, even though her baby was just two weeks old. But her decision almost destroyed her. Here Aifric, 48, who lives in Sussex with her husband Ian, 50, and their 11-year-old son, Oscar, tells TESSA CUNNINGHAM how spectacular failure forced her to rebuild her life…

…

Facing those men – the city’s top movers and shakers – that April evening in 2008 was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But it was also the most cathartic.

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Worth bearing in mind that for every Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon or Greg Coffey there are plenty who find their banking ambitions unexpectedly shattered on the way up.