How Did Durkheim Commit Suicide

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.

Throughout this essay, we will be looking a Durkheim’s analysis of suicide and whether his ideas on suicide were right in his time, and whether they are still relevant in today’s society. Emile Durkheim described ‘suicide’ as a term “applied to any death which is the direct or indirect result of a positive or negative act accomplished by the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result” (Durkheim, Suicide: a Study in Sociology, originally published 1897, 1970). Positive acts were acts that were undertaking with the intention to produce death. Negative acts were actually the distinct lack of survival acts undertaken, with the knowledge that without these acts, death would be the result. As far as Durkheim was concerned, although suicide itself is a very individual act, the reasoning behind suicide was due to predominantly social factors (Durkheim 1970, p44). Suicide was sociological, not psychological. His research was based not on the personality traits of those who had committed suicide, but instead at the suicide rates of different countries compared to the social factors that link the countries together (Durkheim 1970, p40).

Suicide prevention in the military forces is a past and present problem that requires deliberate attention and training in order to reduce the number of soldier’s deaths. This can seem like a goal that may never be attained when the overwhelming numbers of soldier deaths are

One of the disadvantage of previous military wars with todays, is technology. Now soldiers can stay in touch with their families so easy through social media. It is stressful for a soldier to see their friends and family day to day struggle or success, while they are trying to survive combat. So that?s when depression begins followed by alcohol abuse and ending with suicide. Fact: relationship problems are one of the most frequent risk factors associated with suicides among military members. ?Fact: relationship problems are one of the most frequent risk factors associated with suicides among military members? (Litts 2013). Litts also argues that suicidal can be caused due to brain

As a consequence of the stresses of war and inadequate job training, when they get out of the service many have fallen behind their contemporaries. If they are fortunate enough to become employed, many of them are unable to hold a job due to untreated PTSD and acquired addictions without services and counseling designed for them. These factors may place our returning veterans at a higher risk of suicide. In 2007, the US Army reported that there were 115 suicides among OIF/OEF veterans. This was the highest number of suicides reported since the Army started keeping track about 30 years ago. In general, the risk for suicide among these veterans was not higher than that found in the U.S. population (Tull). However, there are several programs and 24 hour suicide hotlines available for those that may contemplate committing suicide as an option.

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

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.

According to recent data, suicide is in on the top ten causes of death in the United States. As the staggering number of suicides increases to over 36,000 a year, and more than a 100 each day. (O’Neil 1) When looking at the data for military veterans, the numbers are even more alarming, as the increasing number, is caused for a national concern. In the past decade the demographics for veterans that committed suicide was predominantly was white male and in the age range of 18 years to 25 years old. Many of the reasons found for their suicide was mostly related to job satisfaction, money problems, or relationship issues. However, since the military has been engaged in war after September 11th, the demographics have changed. No longer is the demographic profile predominantly white, but now it involves several races, as well as age ranges that extend up to 44 years of age. The issues that have been found includes the stress of deployment, knowing when the time is up, the stress of leaving their families, the stress of possible dying, and other added stressors. As McCarl (2012) points out, “For these service members to survive the battlefield only to return home and commit suicide is a notion that reeks of depressing irony.” (McCarl 398) Suicides by Veterans have become a growing health concern, as many have come back from war, trying to adjust to civilian life. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the growing rates of suicide by war veterans. Examining the causes,

Between 2005 and 2010, service members took their own lives at a rate of approximately one every 36 hours (20% of suicides in the U.S.), [9] and statistics show that an estimate of 22 veterans a day are committing suicide. However, given the paucity of representative data, it seems impossible to accurately estimate suicide rates among veterans. [2][9]

The highest rates of suicide in Veteran populations mimic those of the general population: being male, white, and elderly (York, Lamis, Pope & Egede, 2013). Currently, available literature agrees that the top influencing factors of Veteran suicide include depression, combat experience endured, and psychiatric disorders not previously diagnosed. Historically, the incidence of suicide has been 25% lower in military personnel than in civilian peers (Kane et al., 2013). However, with prolonged and repeated deployments seen in OEF/OIF/OND, the incidence of suicide has almost doubled among U.S. Marine and Army soldiers between 2005 and 2009. Firearms, the most frequent means of completed suicide in the general adult population, account for 41% of completed suicide of all military personnel, who are routinely trained in firearm use during basic training (Johnson et al., 2013).

Studies show that military members are nearly twice as likely to attempt or commit suicide (Childress, S. 2015). The reasons for suicide among soldiers may surprise you, since many soldiers with mental illness have not seen combat situations (Childress, S. 2015). Studies have given few answers, as to why there are such high suicide and mental illness rates among soldiers. Soldiers are encouraged to depend on their fellow warriors and build strong bonds with them. The military family is a close knit community, however when a soldier is unable to maintain close relationships they tend to struggle. Soldiers may suffer disconnection because of retirement, injury, deployment, relocation or loss of loved ones. These situations lead a soldier to often feel alone in an unfamiliar environment.

Complex issues in society are often observed, studied, and researched by respective experts in one particular field. Veteran suicide is one of those issue where this type of academics can sometimes lead to a very narrow view and simplistic solution to the complex issue being observed, studied, or researched. Integrative studies is the study of two or more traditional disciplines in different categories, but excludes the applied fields and professions. As Repko states typical categories include the natural sciences; the social sciences; the humanities; the fine and performing arts; communication; business; architecture; engineering; law; etc… (Repko, Interdisciplinary Research Process and Theory -2nd ed., 2012) This paper will explore two different disciplines to research and identify what are the underlying cause of Veteran suicide and is there a way to combine the two disciplines, biological and psychological into a comprehensive research paper to help prevent suicide in the Armed Forces.

This writing supplies statistical data in regard to veterans suicide, but also goes on to question not only why this is happening, but what is causing it. I found it very helpful for the purpose of my writing to draw on the information provided such as, “Army infantrymen and combat engineers killed themselves at substantially higher rates before and after deployment than while stationed overseas. A sensation-seeking personality or other background characteristics may serve these soldiers well in war zones, but boost the odds that they’ll become suicidal before and after their tours of duty, suggests Harvard psychologist and study coauthor Matthew Nock.” I located this article using the EBSCO Host web site academic search under “Veteran

Suicide, to Durkheim, is “an exaggerated form of ordinary practices,” and they arise from “comparable states of mind” in people, with the only difference between daily and suicidal behavior being the “chance of death” (Durkheim 20-21). Durkheim spends the majority of the work dissecting the “apparent motives” for suicide (Durkheim 151) and observing the varieties of suicide, a feat made difficult by the inaccurate reporting and misunderstandings of investigators. Thus, to understand the types of suicide, we must “reverse the order of our research” for “There can only be as many different types of suicide as there are differences in the causes from which they derive,” (Durkheim 149). He says “if they were all found to have the same essential characteristics, they would be grouped in one class” but “observations that we would need to have are more or less impossible obtain” (Durkheim