Veterans Suicide Research Paper

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

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

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

In order to be able to help, one must first be able to recognize the above signs and symptoms, as well as what threat they pose to themselves. Suicide is a very hard issue to discuss. When bringing up concerns about someone, many worry that the person in question might become offended. Talking is never a bad thing, in fact, it might be just the thing someone needs to know that they are not alone and that others do care (Smith, Segal & Robinson). The best thing for many is to know that they have someone’s undivided attention and to know that there are others who are dealing with the same problems that they are. I am a big believer in counseling groups, because they remind you that you are not alone in your problems; There are others that are

With the growing number of veteran related suicides, there is a cause for concern on what may be the contributing factor or factors to yield such outcome. The current rate of suicide for veterans in the United States 18 to 22 incidences daily, which is higher than ordinary non veteran citizens (1).

Among American civilians, whites have historically and significantly led the way in the rates of suicides. Although leveling off after the 1990’s, the rate of white suicides has still been almost twice as much as minority groups. It has also been shown that males commit suicide significantly more than females.

Disabled Women Veterans experience a large gap in services compared to their male counterparts. They experience large gaps in healthcare services, transition services, disability compensation, employment, and housing (Disabled American Veterans, n.d.). This gap leads to higher levels of stress and a high level of need among the Woman Veteran population. Little to no treatment groups exist specifically to the Woman Veteran population and the many challenges the population experiences, leaving them socially isolated. Disabled Women Veterans have many needs to address with disabilities ranging from psychological to physical. Their disabilities alone lead to the need for treatment that address their disabilities and the stress that comes with these

The main treatment barrier that women veterans face is the lack of women specific services (Drapalski et al., 2008). Along with that many women veterans weren't getting the same amount of benefit as the men. The VA disability awards to men on the basis of PTSD, exceeding women's by an absolute percentage of 1 (Murdoch M, 2003). With VA care mostly favoring men with PTSD, it leaves a gender issue that the female veterans are not getting equal amounts of resources as the male veterans. If there was an increase in services for women veterans the barriers may decrease and the service utilization may increase and more women will stick with their services instead of getting nothing done in hopes that their PTSD will go

Within the last ten years, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun to measure and collect data on gender-neutral health screenings to determine if there were any gender specific health disparities among the veteran population. The findings of the study showed some significant disparities between sexes. In an article recently written by Whitehead, Czarnogorski, Wright, Hayes, & Haskell (2014), and published in the American Journal of Public Health, disparities among women veterans were explored as well as the statistical data surrounding the inequities analyzed. There is an urgency needed in addressing these health disparities among women veterans, as they are the fastest growing new population within the VA health

It’s possible to distinguish higher levels of employment among female veterans than female non-veterans. In fact, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (2016) reports that around 34.2% of women

Montgomery, Ann Elizabeth, and Thomas H. Byrne. "Services Utilization among Recently Homeless Veterans: A Gender-Based Comparison." Military Medicine179.3 (2014): 236-239. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Women played an essential role in advertising and promoting the sales of war bonds to fund defense manufacturing. Husbands went to fight in the war, or went to work in manufacturing in different parts of the country, so the women had to pick up tasks that were previously men’s responsibilities. American women have always had a long history of volunteer civic involvement. Organizations and groups led by women provided a nationwide system that assembled millions of American women to contrivance a wide diversity of local programs during the war. Time after time women tirelessly gave their money and time to important organizations with little or no recognition and/or appreciation from the

Our country’s veterans have suffered entirely too much, and we as a country have not done enough to repay them because of this I encourage you to vote for “Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2015 HR3374”. This act will allow single-parent veterans, who are participating in a rehabilitation program, the opportunity to receive a reimbursement of up to $1,000 for each month the veteran is enrolled in the program. The only stipulations to this act are if the veteran is the only caretaker and would be unable to accommodate child care without the additional funds. According to the Wounded Warrior website, 75,287 veterans have been assisted by the Wounded Warrior Project, and there are 12,557 family members associated. Veterans are a group of people that have been alienated from our society since the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, everyone was concerned with peace; likewise, the military today

The population of interest, based on the aforementioned research question is, female combat veterans. For the purpose of this research, this is narrowed down to female service members, more specifically of the Army, who have previously been activated in support of an operation in said combat zone. Participants must have received combat benefits, such as hostile fire pay to fall within the realm of the veteran interest group.