Fact Sheet: Suicide Prevention

Since 2009, suicide rates among those on active-duty status have stabilized at approximately 18 per 100 000. It is important to know the factors driving this increase for many reasons. The most important thing we can get from this is a better to way to both prevent and treat victims faced with thoughts of suicide.

In 1980 nearly 27,000 people took their own lives, making suicide the 10th most common cause of death. 57 percent of the cases of suicide in the United States involved firearms. In 2015 Suicide had been marked the second leading cause of death from ages 10-24. Suicide has been a major health problem in the United States since 1980. The suicides in The United States recently increased because of California and New York. “Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18”

The answers to this question amazed me. I have found out that close to 17 veterans commit suicide daily and, over a year, that number adds up to over 6,000 suicides. I have also discovered that half of veterans with suicidal thoughts and tendencies do not seek help for their problems out of fear of being judged. Perhaps the most shocking statistic I found was that during the Vietnam War, the number of veterans' suicide greatly exceeded the number of deaths caused during combat. The two main information sources I used to answer this question are my expert interview and a GALE article titled Growing Public Health Crisis of Domestic Violence and Suicides by Returning Veterans. I asked my expert specifically about the statistics of veterans' suicide and she gave me a lot of insight on the issue. The GALE article contains a lot of statistics such as the daily number of veterans' suicide. My thoughts about the statistics of veterans' suicide are mainly about how shockingly high they are. I was surprised when I found out that 17 service men and women commit suicide every day. I was even more surprised when the article said that over 6,000 suicides occur every year and I calculated that number myself just to make sure. My findings on the statistics of veterans' suicide are both shocking and twistedly

Jim Lafferty is retiring from MHA in Delaware, effective October 31st. Emily Vera will succeed John as executive director. Emily previously served as community educator, suicide prevention specialist and program director for MHAD’s suicide prevention program. Most recently, Emily served as assistant director and deputy director at MHAD. I have listed her contact information below for your

According to Currier et al. (2014), it was the drug and alcohol addictions lead to the suicidality among the Vietnam veterans. The official number of Vietnam veteran suicide is most likely an undercount, because some suicides have been classified as accidents, and again, others are not even counted as veterans if they were dishonorably discharged. Furthermore, the number still appears to be much greater than previous wars veterans including the Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with estimates of over 200,000 Vietnam veterans committing suicide (Lester,

Suicide not only affects the veteran who committed it but it also affects their family. In 1999-2008 the suicide rate among veterans was 19.4% out of 100,000 and in 2009 the suicide rate went up to 38.3% out of 100,000 (ptsd.va.gov). If Americans can make their voice heard by the government then the amount of suicides could be lessened and more lives could be saved. Veterans were soldiers who put their lives on the line in order to keep the freedom that Americans take for granted and veterans are killing themselves to escape the pain that they are in. Americans should be rewarding veterans with all the help that they need instead of putting them on a 2-3 year waiting list for treatment. Post-traumatic stress disorder also has an effect on families that don't go through suicide. Veterans are more likely to have a divorce than the normal person. Veterans are less expressive and more self-disclosed with their partners if they have post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd.va.gov). Because they are less expressive veterans have marriage problems which eventually leads to a divorce. Not only will they stumble into financial problems they will have marriage problems which makes veterans more vulnerable emotionally. This all occurred because veterans did not get the proper treatment that they deserved. Veterans could have a very good life if they did not join the military but because they did join and risk their lives for freedom Americans should be rewarding them and veterans are getting more problems than rewards. Veterans also have turned to drug abuse or alcoholism to handle the pain. “Many vets have serious injuries, with a legitimate and ongoing need for pain medications, yet the broad availability of these medications and large increases in prescriptions may contribute to their growing misuse by some service members. Pain reliever prescriptions written by military physicians quadrupled

Regardless of the numbers, or rates, one Veteran suicide is one too many. The VA and many other prominent veteran organizations, military leaders, and community leaders, continue to spread the word that “Suicide Prevention is Everyone’s responsibility.” The VA continues to address Veterans’ needs through strategic partnerships with community and federal partners and seeks to enhance these partnerships. However, the core issues are not being solved. The government or its administrative entities will not be able to solve the veteran suicide crisis. The VA’s negligent record of mismanagement, patient abuse, nepotism, and outright bullying and suppression of whistleblowers, speaks for

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death. It is the tenth leading cause of death in America. Each year 44,965 Americans die by suicide. Of those 44,965 Americans, 22 are veterans that die daily. It adds up to more than the men and women who are actually being killed in our ongoing wars themselves. Suicide rates are highest among the Vietnam veterans. There are many causes for this issue, one being PTSD. Veterans who experienced many traumatizing experiences repeatedly have an elevated risk for suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Another cause is the emotionally affect it have on the Veterans. The emotional toll of war on our men, and now women is very damaging to their mental health. They do not know how to express or deal

Sadly, the National Guard has seen the biggest surge in veteran suicide rates since 2012, even more so than the Active component of the military. In the data collected, suicide reports were very similar to the Active components findings; white males aged 17-24, with families and children (Griffith 2012). Between 2007 and 2010 more than 80% of suicides linked

Why does Veterans Affairs ignore the fact that AUD is one of the leading causes of suicide? There are 22 veteran suicides completed on a daily basis and this number is smaller than the true number as this is from veterans who are actually registered in the Veteran Affairs health system (Subhajit Chakravorty et al. 2014). The following are the leading factors leading to veteran suicide: The use of drugs and alcohol, male, white, married or separated, and having an mental health disorder.

As of 2014, 294,172 military personnel have suffered from a TBI since 2000. Russell also stated that there had been 338,294 cases of PTSD since the war on terror. After adding all of these equations together, there were between 1,600-1,800 suicides per year from Veterans that are receiving health care at the Veterans Administration and as many as 6,400 a year Veterans total. (Daigh, 2009) That would break down to 17.5 Veterans killing themselves a day. The most recent estimates believe there could be as many as 22 Veterans taking their lives a day. Pairing this information with the previously discussed work of Rozanov & Carli, one could use inferential statistics and see that combat Veterans are the majority of those Veterans committing suicide.

Suicide among veterans is a national concern and suicide prevention is a priority for the VHA. In concern for the health and well-being of military service members and veterans, congress has mandated implementation of a comprehensive VHA suicide prevention program. The VHA is the only large health care organization to assess suicide mortality among its entire patient population (McCarthy et al, 2009).

A person cannot go a week watching the news and not hear something about another person committing suicide. Rather it be a celebrity like Robin Williams or a high school student. There are about 45,000 suicides in America every year (“About Suicide). Ways to decrease this number include removing the stigma about suicide, knowing the warning signs, and making it harder for suicidal people to get a gun.

The methodology used for this research investigation first consisted of posing a question related to the class texts. After, having a conversation with Mrs. Alcala, discussing my topic, I had decided to do my essay on the two-spirit. Doing my research I had a hard time looking for my information and credible sources, so I changed my topic to teen suicide. Starting my essay with the hook, I was trying to write a false story that I ended up revising about 3 times. For the research online about teen suicide I looked for the statistics of how much suicide has increased over the years, shocking to say it has became normal for teen to suicide now days and an article to support my essay. Doing the link for my first CEL paragraph

The US Department of Defense has launched a suicide prevention program that tries to help service members to overcome the stigma of seeking help. Furthermore, the government has recently passed a bill known as the Clay Hunt SAV Act aimed at making information on suicide prevention more easily available to veterans, offering financial incentives to mental health professionals who work with vets and requiring an annual evaluation of the military's mental health programs by an independent source.