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| Posted: November 20, 2008 |
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The Army says that suicides among its active duty personnel have doubled in recent years, and multiple deployments may be contributing to the increase. A veterans' advocate, an Army psychiatrist and the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs took your questions. |
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| Carl Osgood of Washington, D.C. asks |
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| Dr. Peake claims the data show no correlation between combat experiences and suicide. But soldiers are trained to kill, which requires overcoming the natural resistance that people have to killing. How can this not be a serious risk factor? |
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| Elspeth Ritchie responds: |
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 The completed suicides are not clearly linked to deployments per se. For example, about one third of suicides are among troops who have never deployed, one third have deployed, and one third happen in the year following deployment. However, broken relationships and legal and occupational difficulties are clear risk factors. Expended and repeated deployments certainly strain relationships. In addition there is a clear relationship between number of deployments, combat exposure and symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression. Only a handful of our completed suicides have documented PTSD. However, we know that many soldiers have symptoms but have not come in for treatment. Therefore, over time we expect there to be more of a connection.
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| James Peake responds: |
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 We share the concern that the stress of deployment and combat may lead to some of the common problems we see relating to suicide among the veteran population; things like failed relationships, economic and employment related concerns, mental health diagnosis, and substance abuse. But, in the overall veteran population that we see, exposure to combat is not, so far, the most common underlying or a necessary underlying risk factor for suicide. Certainly it is for some.
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| Paul Sullivan responds: |
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 Veterans for Common Sense believes VA Secretary Peake is wrong, as war is exceptionally traumatizing. Recent Army studies show that deployment to the war zone, especially repeated deployment to the war zone, is a tremendous risk factor for PTSD, and PTSD is one of several risk factors for suicide. Even the Department of Defense now officially recognizes this fact after downplaying it for several years. VCS suggests that Peake meet with DoD experts, independent experts, and veterans' advocates so he can comprehend the enormous psychological damage resulting directly from the war. What is needed now is a comprehensive VA plan to increase mental healthcare capacity so that no veteran ever waits. VA must also stop discriminating against veterans with mental health conditions by providing prompt access to high-quality care enjoyed by veterans with physical injuries.
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