Veteran Suicide

On February 3, 2016, U.S. Senators (Joni Ernst, Barbara Boxer, Sherrod Brown, Richard Blumenthal, and Julia Brownley) introduced the “Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act” bill (Congress.gov, 2016). The bill directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to identify evidence-based mental health care and suicide prevention programs that can effectively reduce suicide rates among female veterans. This is an important issue to address given that suicide is a significant problem affecting military service personnel. For instance, data have shown that of the 1.7 million veterans who serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, 300,000 return with serious mental and psychiatric health issues such as major depressive disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder

f. Summarize: Although all the contributing factors behind military suicides are still not clear, stories like these make it very clear there are issues that need to be addressed. The military troops need to feel comfortable seeking help. When military members seek therapy or help, it needs to be more readily available to them. More studies need to be done to assess if there is a direct correlation between the rise in prescriptions and the surge in suicides. Soldiers on prescription anti-psychotics need to

* U.S. suicide rates overall were 30 percent lower than other countries, but the U.S. firearm suicide rate was 5.8 times higher.

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

There is a common belief that many combat veterans are suffering; many from invisible wounds that affect them in many ways. The challenge that the VA and other government agencies face is determining which veterans need help, there are several factors that affect this, from the individual’s desire to accept help, to the stigma that most veterans have accepted, which is “if they ask for help, they are weak.” During separation from the military it is a critical time for all soldiers, this time provides an opportunity for the military, the VA and our government to intercede and work with men and women while they are still soldiers. Veteran suicide is an epidemic, the number of veterans taking their life daily has been steadily growing, the statistic published by the VA is that twenty-two veterans end their lives every day (Suicide Data Report, 2012); steps have been taken to curb this number but the efforts have been woefully inadequate.

For many years, the VA has offered health care to the men and women who have surrendered a large part of their lives to protect our nation. The VA has made great stride in providing specialized services to veterans such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and Mental Health treatment. In fact, the VA is leading the field on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research, but now that many of our men and women are returning home from war, the commitment that the VA made to provide accessible health services and a smooth transition from military life back to civilian life to these heroes and their dependents are not being granted in a timely manner. Studies show that suicide among veterans is the number one leading cause of death in the United States and

On the night of March 20th, 2012, a twenty-three year old veteran named William Busbee, locked himself in his car and shot himself in the head. His mother and two little sisters were standing just a few feet away (Multiple Deployments). A veteran commits suicide every eighty minutes. If that number is not shocking to hear then I don’t know what is. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a major factor in this mass suicide of veterans. Suicide among veterans is turning into an epidemic. An epidemic that can be stopped with the help of experienced and educated psychologists. Those psychologists are working hard everyday with veterans who are suffering from PTSD in an attempt to cure and potentially rid the patient of this disorder. Maybe

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).

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

Twenty-two United States Veterans commit suicide every day, giving approximately one thousand seven hundred and eighty Veterans deaths due to suicide for the year of 2016 to date (“Operation Never Forgotten”). Veteran suicide is an ongoing problem because veterans enter the civilian world directly after receiving discharge from the armed forces and struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and acute stress, and anxiety (“Veterans ' Services”). Veteran suicides have become a large concern for members of the United States Armed Forces, Operation Never Forgotten (ONF) is an organization that is helping veterans find purpose and a reason to live, by working with the U.S. Congress, they could pass a law

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

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.

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).

About every 12.95 minutes an American has token their own life. 22.2% of the national suicide rate is comprised of Veterans. Suicide costs over $44 billion dollars annually. Suicide is caused by all sorts of things such as; alcohol, depression, being laid off your job, bullying, morning, and depression. According to Sarah Wu, “In New York, there are 6 suicides for every 100,000 people living in the city. There are 11 deaths per 100,000 people nationally.” Las Vegas also sometimes referred to as the suicide capital of America has the highest suicide rate amongst cities. It has a population of 600,000 while New York City has a population of 8.4 million people. New York has a high population leading to more social bonds and less social isolation,