Suicide epidemic among US vets

island

In 2005, for example, in just 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml

KnightofBuddha

island wrote: »

In 2005, for example, in just 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml

I've heard similar stories before. But the truth is that most veterans live very normal lives and do just fine after their tours of duty. They don't all come home loony in the head. I heard a similar story last year about marines returning home from Iraq and becoming murderers. But this is so rare.

I'm not sure what these stories are trying to say exactly. It essentially says nothing about the morality or immorality of a given war.

island

I am confused by your comments so maybe you might say a bit more so that I understand better. Are you saying that you have evidence to the contrary? That there is no risk of increased suicidality among vets? Becoming at risk for suicide does not make you "loony in the head." It means you are suffering, usually from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. It is a health care issue. I am not sure what that has to do with "the morality or immorality of a given war." The point is that there is a need that is affecting a whole generation of people. More have died by their own hands than have died in the war itself. That is a great concern.

Simonthepilgrim

The same phenomenon has been observed for decades over here too. Many of us in the psychotherapeutic professions have had direct experience and know how little care has been extended by the authorities, particularly in long-term treatment or suicides as much as a decade after the traumatic events.

In the U.S. Richard Bandler did ground-breaking work with Vietnam vets. All the evidence was there but still the necessary debrief and support services were not set up.

After Gulf I, a higher percentage of our troops were diagnosed with serious psychiatric illness than after the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. Some have advanced the theory that the long sea journey returning the troops allowed for peer debriefing, whereas the return from the Kuwait theatre was by air.

Those of us who grew up with WW2 vets and Blitzkrieg survivors (to say nothing of camp survivors) took years to learn any sort of truth about what they had seen and done. The psychological mechanism of repression is known to cause long-lasting trauma. Generations have been scarred and we go on allowing it.

There are parades when the troops set off and, in some places, celebrations when they return (most of them, at least) and then? Then, nothing. "Get on with your life. You went and did terrible things, you saw things we would not want to see, and all this you did for us. Now it's done, go away and don't trouble us."

In The Golden Bough, Frazer describes how some Native American peoples had rituals which cleansed their braves of the blood they had shed. We no longer have such rituals nor do we acknowledge the need for them.

federica

(I'm sorry. When I read vets, I thought 'pets'....) :hrm:

It's scandalous.
It's also scandalous that a high number of women soldiers have been subjected to brutal treatment at the hands of their fellow soldiers....

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-harman31mar31,0,5399612.story

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0319/p99s01-duts.html

What, in the name of all that is sacred, makes human subject other humans to such degradation and horror?
Humans they're supposed to rely on for co-operation, safety, assistance, support and comradeship?
You see what War does to the Minds of the vulnerable?

KnightofBuddha

I'm not saying that the statistics are wrong. I believe them. But is the suicide or murder rate amongst vets a lot higher than their peers not in the service? That's all.

I am not going to disagree at all about the affects of war on the human psyche. But like I said, most vets go on to lead normal, productive lives.

bushinoki

Simon had the key words. Necessary debrief. US soldiers (I don't know about the other branches) are required to spend a month in Kuwait after their tour in Iraq. I think that might not be enough yet, but there is a reason that there are slightly fewer such cases in the Army as opposed to other branches. I've had problems with war vets in the past, but those are the rare cases, when everyone else has seemed to adjust quite well.

island

Well, the article says that suicide in general is an epidemic in the US. And then given that, those in the service are at twice the rate. The correlation to violence toward others is not made--I don't see a necessary connection--and from conferences I have attended on the treatment of returnees, there does not seem to be a concern there. There is domestic violence of course, but it is the suicide rate that is alarmingly high. The VA is about to hire more than 3000 new mental health workers and improve their screening so that people get help.

KnightofBuddha

I think a lot of it comes down to a matter of principles. Places like Japan and other Asian countries have historically been more tolerable about suicide compared to a places like Saudi Arabia.

A lot of it may be religious too. There could be a correlation between the decline in religious fervor in the West (Christianity preaches suicide is a sin) and the rise in suicide rates. Not necessarily cause and effect, but certainly a correlation.

island

Suicide tends to be linked to health issues which are not really moral. Some statistics show that the suicide rate occurs coincident with illnesses in 89-98% of cases. And the rate of suicide out numbers murder 2-1. I think these are reasons to have concern.

Simonthepilgrim

We should not forget, too, the explosive growth in the use of antidepressants, psycholitic medication, etc.. From both personal experience in my own mind, and from clients and friends, I can attest to the fact of 'suicidal ideation' caused by some of these meds. This is particularly true among the young (i.e. under 30).

Palzang

You're right, Simon. When I was on antidepressants, I experienced that very phenomenon - and immediately went off them.

Palzang

srivijaya

Palzang wrote: »

You're right, Simon. When I was on antidepressants, I experienced that very phenomenon - and immediately went off them.

Palzang

Yes, drugs of all kinds do affect the mind. I was once on some drugs to offset a powerful allergic reaction I had to a common prescription painkiller (long story).

These anti-allergens made me lethargic and disengaged. At that time my wife and baby boy got very ill and I honestly didn't give a sh*t. They could have died and it would have meant nothing to me.

I was aware of this and so I stopped taking them, although it meant I had to suffer the fallout from my allergic reaction. I preferred that to being a soul-dead zombie.

And these drugs were not supposed to have any mental side effects!