|
 Compared with people still on active duty in the military, veterans
out of the service for up to three months were 2.5 times more likely
to commit suicide, the study found. Veterans who had left the
service from three to 12 months earlier had almost triple the
suicide odds of current members of the military.
“Family members and community can be proactive to reach out to
veterans if they recently experienced stressful events – not just
limited to the stressful events we can capture in the data such as
divorce or separation from the military,” said lead study author Yu-Chu
Shen, a researcher at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
California.
“In addition, clinicians should be aware that deployments may
increase suicide risk independently of underlying mental disorders,
and so asking patients about deployment history is advisable,” Shen
said by email.
To assess how different types of experiences during military service
and afterwards might influence suicide risk, researchers analyzed
data collected on almost 3.8 million current and former service
members from 2001 to 2011.
Overall, there were 4,492 suicides in the study population.
The strongest predictors of suicide were current or past diagnoses
of self-inflicted injuries, major depression, bipolar disorder,
substance abuse or other mental health conditions, researchers
report in The Lancet Psychiatry.
Compared with service members who were never deployed, those who
were currently deployed had a 50 percent lower risk of suicide, the
study found.
However, in the first quarter following deployment, service members
had a 50 percent higher risk of suicide than their peers who didn’t
experience deployment.
The study didn’t examine why the suicide risk was lower during
deployment than afterwards. But it’s possible service members
benefited from the positive psychological impact of belonging to a
group with a shared mission during deployment, Shen said, then had
more time to contemplate any negative feelings about their
experiences when they were no longer on the mission.
When they left the military, the risk of suicide remained higher
than for current service members for several years. Six years after
leaving the military, veterans had a 63 percent higher risk of
suicide than those still in the service, the study found.
[to top of second column] |
One limitation of the study is that researchers lacked data on
mental health disorders diagnosed after separation from the
military, the authors note. They also lacked data on civilian
experiences like divorce, unemployment, financial hardship or
housing insecurity that could all influence mental health and the
risk of suicide, the researchers point out.
The study also doesn’t account for the frequency or intensity of
combat experiences, noted Dr. Charles Hoge, a senior scientist at
the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research who wrote an accompanying
editorial.
Still, the findings suggest that veterans may need mental health
services long after they return home.
“Unfortunately, despite numerous efforts to reduce stigma and other
barriers to care, stigma remains pervasive in society and many
veterans still do not seek help when needed,” Hoge told Reuters
Health by email.
“There are a number of warning signs for underlying mental health
problems that may require treatment, such as withdrawal from family
and friends, noticeable changes in functioning or behavior, talking
about suicide or death, giving away belongings, increasing alcohol
or substance use, or expressions of hopelessness or worthlessness,”
Hoge added.
One immediate resource that is available 24/7 is the national
suicide prevention lifeline 1-800-273-8255.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2dPXIi3 and http://bit.ly/2dMyc1G The Lancet
Psychiatry, online September 30, 2016.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
