Suicide Among Veterans

Stressed by war and long overseas tours, U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year at the highest rate on record, the toll rising for a fourth straight year and even surpassing the suicide rate among comparable civilians. Army leaders said they were doing everything they could think of to curb the deaths and appealed for more mental health professionals to join and help out. Clearly, the military is going above and beyond to try and prevent further lives from being taken.

According to Dr. Mike Haynie, the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, “22 military veterans today commit suicide in this country one every 80 minutes[...and]in recent years, more veterans have died by their own hand than service members lost to the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan” (Haynie). On a typical stance, many Americans would disregard this shocking statistic as merely a myth or a folktale. In reality, however, this statistic illustrates the “blind side” of America; it illustrates the assumption people unknowingly draw about veterans and the pain they actually suffer from war. It is these very veterans to whom America gives its support and blessings; it is for these very veterans that the

Equally important, in regards to PTSD and it subsequent influence on suicide, McCarthy et al. (2012), using a national cohort of patients, examined the suicide rates of rural veterans and their urban counterparts and found that after controlling for age, gender, mental health access, and psychiatric diagnoses, rural veterans are at a higher risk of suicide, and suicide rates were higher than their urban counterparts due simply to their resident location. Furthermore, the research indicates that even after accounting for access to mental health care services, living in a rural area increases risk of suicide (McCarthy et al., 2012).

The military is one of the most culturally diverse employers in the world, therefore it is hard to identify a specific target population at a higher risk of suicide. However, from the research conducted by Kemp and Bossarte (2012) the data shows white male veterans between the ages of 50 and 79 were more likely to commit suicide than any other race, gender or age group. Additionally, the periods in which the veteran served also plays a huge role in veteran suicide, where the data shows Vietnam veterans are significantly at a higher risk for suicide (Kemp & Bossarte, 2012). It must be said, there is research which shows there is no statistically significant increases in suicide mortality among Vietnam veterans when compared to other war era veterans (Bossarte, Claassen, & Knox, 2010). The research conducted by David Lester (2005) shows there are several reasons for this. First, America engaged in the Vietnam War without the approval, of the United Nation (Lester, 2005), causing a nation to become divided. The war was meet with mix views and opinions however, veterans from Vietnam were not accepted or appreciated by the general public around the world, and here in the United States. These veterans were protested

Over twenty veterans commit suicide every single day in the United States (Freking). Twenty lives taken off the face of this earth due to mental or physical hardships these veterans face each and every day. One of the largest contributors to this huge amount of unnecessary deaths is the silent killer that is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a mental disorder that develops when someone experiences traumatic events or other moments in which their life is in jeopardy. The effects of PTSD can leave one feeling alone, anxious, hopeless, and turn them into a lesser version of themselves. Roughly fifteen percent of veterans return from deployments in which they experienced combat with PTSD, thus amassing to over 400,000 soldiers from the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq alone (How Common Is PTSD?). Even though PTSD effects so many veterans there is not a lot of public knowledge or support for the fight to combat it. Due to the devastating effects that post-traumatic stress disorder has on our veteran population both the government and the public should provide the funding, support, and recognition that is needed to combat the disease.

In fact, it isn't uncommon for soldiers to take their own lives at the hand of the trauma. To put this into perspective, in 2013, The US Department of Veterans Affairs released a study that covered suicides 1999 to 2010 showed that around 65 war veterans commit suicide every day. War was the leading cause of death in the military nearly every year between 2004 and 2011 until suicides became the top means of dying for troops in 2012 onward. This just goes to show the extent that post-traumatic stress disorder effects soldiers that have experienced war and why we should be concerned as this number of suicides is only going to get larger as war continues to plague the

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is defined as “a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. (1)” This issue is most commonly associated with war veterans who have given their life to the service of the country and have suffered because of it. These men and women suffer emotional, physical, mental, and neurological trauma, which is “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury(2) ” In fact, the suicide rate of soldiers has increased since last generation, indicating that this is a very serious issue that must be understood from all perspectives. Psychologists, and those who study and help PTSD victims, including loved one of victims, must understand the neurological and spiritual elements

This group of veterans, especially, found reintegrating challenging. With many turning to substance use, finding themselves homeless, or involved with the criminal justice system, they were unable to handle the challenges of reintegration (Hawkins, 2010). By the 1980’s between thirty and seventy percent of Vietnam veterans showed signs of PTSD resulting from the combat trauma (Burgess, Stockey, & Coen, 2010). PTSD was recognized as a psychological disorder in DSM-III. Looming too large to ignore, veterans groups began to exert tremendous pressure to recognize the plight of Vietnam veterans.

When asked to describe a United States veteran, a couple words that come to mind are courageous, powerful, and strong. This is an accurate assessment of a soldier because it takes immense bravery and pride for one's country to leave and fight not knowing whether you will return. However, when soldiers are done serving their country their minds are in a chaotic state. Out of the recent veterans returning from the Middle East, only half of them seek out help, and out of this half, forty-eight percent are diagnosed with a serious mental health issue( Mental Health Effects). Twenty percent of soldiers coming back from the middle east are diagnosed with PTSD, along with twenty five percent of the troops

It has been proven to have a better response rate.The Institute of Medicine recognized exposure therapies as the only treatment approach with sufficient empirical data to be deemed effective for PTSD (Institute of Medicine, 2007).While pharmacotherapy with SSRI can reduce symptoms, the most effective treatments involve understanding and overcoming avoidance behaviors (Foa & Rothbaum, 1998) Exposure therapy is a behavioral treatment for PTSD that aims to reduce your fear, anxiety and avoidance behavior by having you fully face, or be exposed to, thoughts, feelings or situations that are feared. During exposure therapy, the patient will face varying stimuli that stimulate the PTSD. This will go on until the intensity of the stimuli is

How does war affect the mind of a soldier? It would seem to some that a soldier thrives on war, that true heroism lies within those who show no weakness in its midst. No mental block can stop a soldier from his duty. Yet, some 20% of veterans are returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). So what of these brave servicemen and women who snap upon realizing the harsh tragedy of war? How can the concept of unbreakable soldier be taken on? In the article, “Military’s mental-health system faces shortage of providers, lack of good diagnostic tools” Ellen Nakashima and Sandhya Somashekhar take on these questions by examining the resources provided to veterans for mental health issues. The authors of this article take specific note of the rising rates of mental health related problems among veterans over the past decade. What is befuddling about this piece is how the information is presented as surprising or shocking. How could the authors, let alone the military, be caught off guard by the fact that a decade long war could

For centuries there have seen casualties of war; soldiers who have had various physical injuries and scars that last a lifetime. Yet until the 20th century little was known about the emotional effects of war on soldiers and it wasn't until soldiers were studied psychologically that the public began to understand what had happened to them. One of the many things that the public began to understand was that any returning veteran came back with disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and the shell shock also known as Combat Stress Reaction. The trauma that they suffered is so great that some veteran come back not knowing how to act in their new normal life and become homeless, they suffer from substance abuse to cope and it jeopardizes

Berger (2015) discusses PTSD historical roots and facts from previous war eras, about combat-related trauma and mental health conditions, that compasses today’s PTSD in veterans. In similarity, (Martin , 2012) also discuss historical facts about combat trauma in veterans, and their struggles with re-integration of life and communities they left behind and understood, since the Civil War and other wars that followed (Martin, 2012). Post-war veterans also experience trauma because of chemical and toxic exposure that caused a chronic illness, less expectation of quality of life, and mortality (Martin, 2012). Consequently, many of today’s combat veterans, experience similar traumatic events that resemble those of pre-war eras such as, nightmares,

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.

This is a major aspect of veterans mental care that must be treated; the psychological problems at hand. Many soldiers turn to suicide to escape the madness. One man named Schulze cried out for help, but help never came. “He tried to hold a job but he couldn’t. Schulze was suffering flashbacks and panic attacks so intense that he couldn't concentrate on his work. Sometimes, he heard in his mind the haunting chants of the muezzin--the Muslim call to prayer that he'd heard many times in Iraq” (Ephron and Childress 127). This is only one sad story, of many who couldn’t hold on to life. The baffling suicide statistic f 1,000 a month, among 5.6 million veterans that the V.A. treats, as a sign that mental health in soldiers needs more attention and care (Macfarquhar 1). They found that roughly one-quarter of all soldiers had one or more mental health disorders. Not just PTSD but also depression, anxiety, substance abuse. That's twice the rate of people their age in the general population (“New Shooting” 1). One veteran explains his suicidal experiences after war when talking to his mother on the phone, “And I would call her, you know, after I'd drinkin so much. And it's late at night, and I'd tell her, Mom, like, I need help. Every day, I wish I was dead” (“Missed Treatment” 2). The VA should be held responsible for not giving veterans the proper mental health care. If soldier’s can’t go home to a normal life after war, they shouldn’t be going to war in the first place. Not only should the VA take more time in treating our veterans mentalities, the department needs to become more organized and prepared for the task at