(NEW YORK) MintPress — Straight on the heels of the news that suicides in the U.S. military have reached the fastest pace yet in the country’s decade of war — averaging nearly one a day this year — comes some new insight into the reason behind the surge.
When researchers asked 72 soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo. why they tried to kill themselves, of the 33 reasons they had to choose from, all of the troops included the same one — a desire to end intense emotional distress.
“This really is the first study that provides scientific data saying that the top reason…these guys are trying to kill themselves is because they have this intense psychological suffering and pain,” said Craig Bryan, co- author of the study by the National Center for Veterans’ Studies (NCVS) at the University of Utah.
The new Pentagon-funded study was badly needed. Military scientists say that even after years of congressional funding for research into the subject, there have been few concrete results.
Among explanations, studies have pointed to combat exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder, misuse of prescription medications and personal financial problems. Army data also suggests soldiers with multiple tours of combat are at greater risk of committing suicide.
The latest findings finally offer some initial guidance on how to tackle the problem, said Army Col. Carl Castro, who is coordinating $50 million in research into suicide prevention and treatment.
“The core of the issue is that it’s not that people who attempt suicide…want to harm themselves as much as they want the pain they’re currently in to stop, and they don’t see any other way out.”
Additional findings highlight complexities
That’s not to say it isn’t complicated. Other common reasons included the urge to end chronic sadness, a means of escaping people or a way to express desperation.
“What makes one person become suicidal and another not is truly an unknown,” said Jackie Garrick, head of a newly established Defense Suicide Prevention Office at the Pentagon.
At the same time, new Department of Defense analysis released last week shows that suicide rates in the military were highest among people who are divorced or separated, with a rate of 19 per 100,000, which is 24 percent higher than troops who are single.
And data indicated that mental health problems in the military have jumped 65 percent since 2000, with 936,000 troops diagnosed with at least one mental health issue in that time.
New treatment
Still, the Fort Carson findings support the tactics being used in new therapies that focus on teaching troops skills that will help them subdue emotional pain and “treat the suicide,” explained Castro.
Traditional therapies lean toward treating underlying illnesses, such as depression or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The treatments are being tested in a small number of Defense Department studies, according to David Rudd, co-founder of the NCVS, who is leading the research.
The full study is to be published in the coming months.
Tackling military mindset
But there may be other obstacles to reducing the suicide rate among troops. Dr. Stephen N. Xenakis, a retired Army brigadier general and a practicing psychiatrist, said he worries that many senior military officers do not grasp the nature of the suicide problem.
One glaring example: A senior Army general recently told soldiers considering suicide to “act like an adult.”
Major Gen. Dana Pittard, commander of the 1st Armored Division, last month retracted, but did not apologize for, a statement in his Army blog where he had written, “I have now come to the conclusion that suicide is an absolutely selfish act….Be an adult and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us.”
Last month, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, said he disagrees with Pittard “in the strongest possible terms.”
And Marine Sgt. Maj. Bryan Battaglia, Dempsey’s senior adviser, recently issued a video message to all military members in which he noted that suicides “are sadly on the rise.”
“From private to general, we shoulder an obligation to look and listen for signs and we stand ready to intervene and assist our fellow service member of battle buddy in time of need,” he said.
One positive sign: The renewed surge in suicides has caught the attention of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. In May, he sent an internal memo to the Pentagon’s top civilian and military leaders in which he called suicide “one of the most complex and urgent problems” facing the Defense Department.
Panetta touched on one of the most sensitive aspects of the problem, the stigma associated with seeking help for mental distress, writing that commanders “cannot tolerate any actions that belittle, haze, humiliate or ostracize any individual, especially those who require or are responsibly seeking professional services.”
That would clearly be a big step toward allowing researchers studying the problem to help those who need it most.