War vets dying from suicide in growing numbers

Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Beaver - wikimedia

Carol Forsloff - "The VA and DoD can’t do it alone. We need to rely on community providers,” declared Jon Towers, senior policy advisor on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs as specialists underlined the need to revamp the mental health system for returning troops.  But has happened to change things since these statements were made more than four years ago?


The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) conference held a conference in 2010 focused on American troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and other veterans whom they say cannot depend solely on the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) for mental health car, even though the civilian mental health care system is in crisis.

U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy warned, “Every day in America, our military veterans are being held behind enemy lines” because of the nation’s “Byzantine mental health system.”

Suicide among the soldiers is a major problem, convention participants underlined.   Pamela Hyde, administrator of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), said as many soldiers in the Army are dying from suicide as died in Iraq.

“The mental health of service members depends on the mental health of family members,” Towers said.

But since 2010 has the increase in these numbers continued?

A Senate Panel has backed a bill on methods to reduce the suicide rate among veterans.  The problem has remained since four years ago, and in fact, the problem may have actually grown, according to reports nationwide.

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee just days ago approved a bill that was named after Clay Hunt.  He was a veteran only 26 years of age when he killed himself in 2011.  Suicide is said to claim 22 military veterans daily.

And just two days ago a mother was reported by USA Today to have declared that the Veterans Administrative should assume direct responsibility for her son, Janos (John) Lutz suicide.  In Broward County, Florida the veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan wars had complained about depression following the breakup with a girlfriend.  He was only 24 years old when he killed himself with  medications, medications his mother claims were beyond his needs and inappropriate for his condition.  There were also expressed concerns about internal communication about Lutz needs within the medical facility. This particular case is being investigated without conclusions on the claim itself at present, however it shows how complicated and stressful it can be for medical personnel and family members when a suicide occurs.

What the Veterans Administration has found is that the younger veterans are more apt to commit suicide than older ones.  The rate of increase of suicides of veterans between the ages of 18-24 has been 33 per 100,000.  The weapon used is primarily firearms, at a rate of 70 percent.

Suicide among veterans remains a consequence of war.  The sorrow of families who lose a loved one is part of the issue, as government leaders are addressing the problem.

The consequences of war continue to be how young men and women are affected.  In a volunteer military those rates, experts hope, will change with a renewed focus on the problem.

Psychological and political hostage-taking creates special victim trauma

[caption id="attachment_8550" align="alignleft" width="300"] Elderly woman - wikimedia commons[/caption]

Carol Forsloff----Gunmen take hostages in a Kenyan mall, kill some and free others, something most people would recognize as a devastating event. But another type of hostage-taking can also negatively impact lives on the personal or interpersonal level causing individual and collective harm.

That psychological hostage-taking has as examples the husband or wife who withholds affection, financial support and uses verbal abuse to control. It is the man in the neighborhood who divides a community into factions that destroy support in a group so fear, anxiety and mistrust occur. It is the employer who offers threats of closure, firing and other intimidating gestures in order to maintain power. It is a government that cannot make good decisions because of the intractability of the few. These examples can cause individuals psychological harm that can affect health and social well-being.

Ruth, age 76, lives in a condominium community, in an area where many of these housing structures are failing or have widespread damage. Community management has authorized extensive repairs, as some areas of the complex are considered dangerous. For Ruth the thousands of dollars of extra money that she would be assessed is a frightening notion. This leaves her open for manipulation by those whose mission may be less to question authority or find new and less expensive repairs than to obtain control over the community itself. She loses trust in the management as the psychological hostage-taking spreads, impacting others and causing them to submit to the whims of those opposing change. The loss of money is a frightening thing, and over time the tension builds, especially as anger is heightened all around her. Ruth says, “what can I do? I don't have the money so I can't move. I can't pay the additional fees” as the building damage accelerates and lawsuits interrupt repairs. She becomes a hostage in her own home.

This is one of the reasons housing experts recommend checking HOA fees and other issues before buying into a condominium complex.  On the other hand, issues can develop over time that make it especially hard for those without the means to fix extensive and expensive repairs that might have been done with less expense at an earlier time.

In another situation, Gordon Hiller sits alone at his children's home with a physical illness that impairs his mobility and eyesight. He is at the mercy of a son-in-law who complains daily of the extra burden and threatens to put the old man in a home or on the streets. This has gone on for several years, as Hiller's health deteriorates because of depression and the subsequent lack of will. There seems no way out in this psychological hostage-taking that experts tell us can create serious emotional and physical health problems at a vulnerable time of life.

On a socio-political level politicians can hold an entire country in a psychological hostage-taking situation, as they force ideas that can create personal stress. Threats to reducing Social Security benefits or Medicare frightens those who rely upon it to live. The poorest lose homes, and when they look for alternatives, the doors are slammed shut as states and municipalities see their local funds dwindle. It is a problem not just in the United States but around the world, where those who are already poor find themselves with the threat of even more impoverishment.

The violence of taking hostages in wars and terrorism is easily understood as disrupting and impacting lives in a way that can have long-term consequences. But it is the unspoken threats that last over days, months and years that experts tell us often can be as devastating a psychological trauma as physical kidnapping.