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 Researchers with the department of Veterans Affairs found that men
with a history of what the VA calls military sexual trauma (MST) are
70 percent more likely than fellow vets without such experience to
commit suicide, and women veterans with MST are more than twice as
likely as other female vets to do so.
“The study found that those veterans who died by suicide were
significantly more likely to be treated for mental health conditions
that were related to their MST experience,” noted Susan McCutcheon,
national mental health director for family services, women’s mental
health and MST at the Veterans Health Administration.
If mental health conditions like depression or post-traumatic stress
disorder - which are themselves strong risk factors for suicide -
stem from the MST experience, that may explain the connection
between MST and suicide, said McCutcheon, who was not involved in
the study but spoke on behalf of the VHA.
The results also highlight the importance of MST awareness and
associated mental health conditions as risk factors for suicide,
McCutcheon told Reuters Health by email, as well as the potential
benefits of mental health treatment that addresses these experiences
and related mental health conditions.
The study team, led by Dr. Rachel Kimerling at the VA Palo Alto
Health Care System in Menlo Park, California, analyzed records for
nearly 6 million men and 361,000 women veterans who received VA
healthcare from 2007 to 2011 and were screened for military sexual
trauma.
They found that MST was reported by 1.1 percent of men and 21.2
percent of women.
A total of 9,017 veterans died by suicide during this period,
Kimerling and her colleagues report in the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine.
Among both men and women, suicide rates were higher among veterans
who had reported MST, even after researchers accounted for other
risk factors like other health conditions, rural residence and
mental health conditions.
Out of all the suicides during this period, the researchers
calculated that for the men, between 25 and 61 could be attributed
to MST and for women, that range was 26 to 49.
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This investigation represents one of the first population-based
studies to establish sexual trauma as a risk factor for suicide in
both women and men, write Kimerling and her colleagues, who were not
available to comment on the study.
The VA is very proactive in screening for MST and in providing
treatment for those who can benefit from it, McCutcheon said. Not
all vets come forward, however. “Disclosure of sexual trauma has
potential for psychological distress in any population, and we
respect a veteran’s right to decline MST screening," she said.
Because of the clinical importance of this information, veterans who
decline to answer the screen are screened again in one year so that
the information can be obtained if the individual feels ready to
disclose it, McCutcheon noted.
In May 2015, the screening process was updated to enhance its
ability to detect MST and to make it easier for vets to disclose,
she added. “The revised MST screening process also capitalizes on
screening as an opportunity to provide all veterans with information
about VA’s specialized MST services, regardless of whether or not
they disclose MST,” McCutcheon said. “In conjunction, VHA has
engaged in efforts to provide staff with additional training
opportunities on how to screen and respond sensitively to
disclosures of MST.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1n9GctB American Journal of Preventive
Medicine, online December 14, 2015.
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