Combating Suicide in the Military

7/29/2019 Combating Suicide in the Military

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Combating Suicide

in the Military

Published by Cheryl from

CherMyOpinion

February 16, 2013

Many are asking questions about

the Central Command policy that

allows troops to go to Iraq and

Afghanistan with up to a six-month

supply of psychotropic drugs.

Prescription drugs have already

been linked to some military

suicides, and a top Army official warned last year about the danger of soldiers abusing that medication.

Psychiatrists are now coming down hard on the military for continuing to sanction certain psychotropicdrugs for combat troops, saying the risk from side effects is too great.

Thousands of US soldiers are going into battle fueled by all sorts of prescription medications, be they

amphetamines, antidepressants, sedatives or others. Largely unmonitored consumption of drugs can

lead to aberrant behavior and mental disorders. Over 110,000 American service personnel took

prescribed medications in 2011 to battle through everyday military routine.

The Times recently disclosed that nearly 8 per cent of active-duty American servicemen and women take

sedatives and over 6 per cent are on antidepressants,a tremendous eightfold increase since 2005,when

two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were in full swing. Routine military service, combat stress, and

sometimes lack of sleep force American troops to go to work medicated. It mirrors the general situation

in American society that uses prescription drugs on a daily basis at levels unseen before.

"We have never medicated our troops to the extent we are doing now. And I don't believe the current

increase in suicides and homicides in the military are a coincidence," said Bart Billings, a former military

psychologist who hosts an annual conference on combat stress, informed The Los Angeles Times.

Painkillers of narcotic nature pose a threat of addiction to those injured who have to take them, too.

One could only guess whether the suicide rate surge in the US Army in the recent decade has any

connections with army psychologists prescribing pills to personnel left, right and center. An appalling 80

per cent increase in suicides among US service personnel as I said is just completely unacceptable. The

recent notorious case of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of murdering 17 civilians in a bloody rampage in

Afghanistan, again raised the question of drug-related incidents in the US military.After it wasannounced the defendant does not remember what he did, his attorneys requested a list of the

medication the soldier was taking during his deployment in Afghanistan.

The number of suicide deaths in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 last year more than the 295

Americans who died fighting in Afghanistan in 2012. On All Things Considered, NPR's Pentagon

correspondent Tom Bowman tells co-host Audie Cornish that the figures represent"active duty and

reserve ... the largest portion were the active duty Army; 182 took their own lives in 2012."While some
http://www.myopinionsowned.blogspot.com/http://www.myopinionsowned.blogspot.com/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169363311/military-suicides-hit-record-high-in-2012http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169363311/military-suicides-hit-record-high-in-2012http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169363311/military-suicides-hit-record-high-in-2012http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169363311/military-suicides-hit-record-high-in-2012http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169363311/military-suicides-hit-record-high-in-2012http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169363311/military-suicides-hit-record-high-in-2012http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://rt.com/news/us-army-medicine-drugs-580/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/concerns-raised-combat-troops-using-psychotropic-drugs/#ixzz2L4P2KJJlhttp://www.myopinionsowned.blogspot.com/


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of the deaths can be linked to the stresses of being deployed in a war zone, a third or more of those who

killed themselves were never deployed, Tom says.

Each branch of the service showed an increase. The Army had by far the highest number of suicides and

probable suicides -- 182, a number that was up from 166 in 2011. The Navy had 60 suicides in 2012

compared with 52 the year before, followed by the Air Force with 59 (up from 51) and the Marine Corps

with 48 (up from 32). source

A private-sector group, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), which provides military

grief support programs,reported it has eight to 10 cases a week of people seeking help because they are

dealing with the suicide of a service member. Of the people contacting the organization for care and

support, 18% were "grieving a death by suicide," TAPS said in a statement. "We are deeply saddened by

this loss of life, and renew our commitment to support the military families left behind who are grieving

the deaths of service members by suicide,"said Bonnie Carroll, founder of TAPS. She is a former co-chair

of a congressionally mandated Department of Defense Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide in the

Armed Forces.

If you are a soldier or the loved one of someone who you may think needs help I want to give you some

advice on how to deal with this situation. Please never assume the feeling will pass, this is a deadly

assumption. The only way to prevent suicide is to give it a voice. I feel it is my duty to help others to

keep from the assumption I made with deadly consequences. I can tell you with certainty when

someone talks about sucide they have thought about suicide. The following are some guidelines that

may be helpful to you or your loved one.

Always take suicidal comments very seriously. When a person says that he or

she is thinking about suicide, you must always take the comments seriously.

Assuming that the person is only seeking attention is a very serious, and potentiallydisastrous, error. Get help immediately. Follow the information that is on thehome page of Suicide.org.Feel free to view the home

page of this site and to use it to help you. Dealing with a person who is suicidal is not easy, sofollowing what is on the home page of Suicide.org can help you. And always remember that

you need to call 911 or your local emergency number immediately for anyone who is at a

high risk for suicide. Do not hesitate.

Try not to act shocked. The person is already highly distressed, and if you are shocked bywhat is said, the person will become more distressed. Stay calm, and talk with him or her in a

matter-of-fact manner, but get help immediately. If the person is at a high risk for suicide, call

911 immediately.

Get help immediately. Call 911, 1-800-SUICIDE, or 1-800-273-TALK. This point cannot

be overemphasized; a person who is suicidal needs immediate professional help.

Do not handle the situation by yourself. A suicidal person needs immediate assistance fromqualified mental health professionals. Again, call 911, 1-800-SUICIDE, or 1-800-273-TALK.

And do not allow untrained individuals to act as the only couselors to the individual.

While you are waiting for help to arrive (or if there is no emergency):
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Listen attentively to everything that the person has to say. Let the person talk as muchas he or she wants to. Listen closely so that you can be as supportive as possible, and

learn as much as possible about what is causing the suicidal feelings.

Comfort the person with words of encouragement. Use common sense to offer wordsof support. Remember that intense emotional pain can be overwhelming, so be as gentle

and caring as possible. There is no script to use in situations like these, because eachperson and each situation is different. Listen carefully, and offer encouraging words whenappropriate.

Let the person know that you are deeply concerned. Tell the person that you areconcerned, and show them that you are concerned. A suicidal person is highly vulnerableand needs to feel that concern.

If the person is at a high risk of suicide, do not leave him or her alone. Do not leave acritically suicidal person alone for even a second. Only after you get professional help for

the person can you consider leaving him or her.

Talk openly about suicide.

Ask the person, "Are you feeling so bad that you are thinking about suicide?"

If the answer is yes, ask, "Have you thought about how you would do it?"

If the answer is yes, ask, "Do you have what you need to do it?"

If the answer is yes, ask, "Have you thought about when you would do it?"

Here are those four important questions in abbreviated form:

1. Suicidal?2.

Method?3. Have what you need?

4. When?You need to know as much as possible about what is going on in the person's mind. The

more planning that someone has put into a suicide, the greater the risk. If the person has amethod and a time in mind, the risk is extremely high and you cannot hesitate to call 911

and ensure that professional treatment is given.

If the person talks about using a firearm that he or she owns for suicide, call thepolice so they may remove the firearm(s). Firearms are used in suicides, and those who

use a firearm usually do not survive. It is thus an emergency that needs to be handled bythe police immediately.

Don't be judgmental. Do not invalidate anything that the person says or feels. Theperson is probably suffering from a chemical imbalance in the brain, and thus could not

possibly think clearly. Be supportive and caring, not judgmental, but get helpimmediately.


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Be careful of the statements that you make. You do not want to make the person feelany worse than he or she already does. Again, the person is probably suffering from a

chemical imbalance in the brain and is thus extremely sensitive.

Listen, listen, listen. Be gentle, kind, and understanding. Again, allow the person totalk as much as he or she wants. Always listen very attentively, and encourage him or her

to talk more. Be as gentle, kind, and understanding as possible. Let the person express emotion in the way that he or she wants. Allow the person to

cry, yell, swear and do what is necessary to release the emotion. However, do not allow

the person to become violent or harm himself or herself.

Again, use thehome page of Suicide.org to help the person. Make a copy of it andgive it to him or her. This will not only help the person now, but also in the future when

he or she needs help. You can also make copies of any of the pages of the Suicide.org site

that you think will help the person, and give them to him or her. (There is no charge for

distributing copies of pages of this site in print media, not on the Internet, fornoncommercial, nonprofit use.)

After the person has received help and is no longer critically suicidal, help theperson make an appointment with a medical doctor and a therapist. If the person hasnot yet seen a medical doctor or a therapist, help him or her make the appointments.

Suicidal feelings need to be dealt with on a professional level. Only trained professions

should assume the care for the person. This is very important. Do not try to help the

person by yourself. Make sure that the person is seen by a medical doctor and a therapist.

Before you leave the person, make sure that he or she has received professional helpfrom qualified mental health professionals or that the risk of suicide has dissipated. You cannot leave the person until the risk of suicide is gone or he or she is in treatment.A person who is suicidal is at risk of suicide at any juncture. Ensure that all appropriate

actions are taken to help the person before you leave.

When in doubt about what to do, call 911 immediately. Be safe. A suicidal personneeds professional help. Period. If you are not sure what to do, it is certainly better to erron the side of caution and get professional assistance immediately. Again, if you are not

sure what to do, call 911.

If someone tells you that you need to keep his or her suicidal intentions a secret,then you never can keep that "secret." Under no circumstances can you keep a "secret"

that could cause someone's death. You are not violating a privileged communication; you

are taking the steps necessary to prevent a suicide. That is an expression of love, caring,and deep concern, and is the only ethical choice in a situation as serious as this.

Follow up with the person on a regular basis to make sure that he or she is doingokay. Suicidal feelings can come and go, so follow up to see how the person is. It is very

important to show continued support. If the person becomes suicidal again, takeimmediate action to help him or her.

http://www.suicide.org/suicide-prevention-in-the-military.html
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Combating Suicide in the Military