U.S. Suicide Rate Surges to a 30-Year High
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/health/us-suicide-rate-surges-to-a-30-year-high.html
“This is part of the larger emerging pattern of evidence of the links between poverty, hopelessness and health,” said Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard and the author of “Our Kids,” an investigation of new class divisions in America.
The rise in suicide rates has happened slowly over many years. Federal health researchers said they chose 1999 as the start of the period they studied because it was a low point in the national suicide rate and they wanted to cover the full period of its recent sustained rise.
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Disappointed expectations of social and economic well-being among less educated white men from the baby-boom generation may also be playing a role, she said. They grew up in an era that valued “masculinity and self-reliance” — characteristics that could get in the way of asking for help.
“It appears this group isn’t seeking help but rather turning to self-destructive means of dealing with their despair,” Professor Phillips said.
Another possible explanation: an economy that has eaten away at the prospects of families on the lower rungs of the income ladder.
About Military Veterans - Detailed study confirms high suicide rate among recent veterans
Recent veterans have committed suicide at a much higher rate than people who never served in the military, according to a new analysis that provides the most thorough accounting so far of the problem.
The rate was slightly higher among veterans who never deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, suggesting that the causes extend beyond the trauma of war.
"People's natural instinct is to explain military suicide by the war-is-hell theory of the world," said Michael Schoenbaum, an epidemiologist and military suicide expert at the National Institute of Mental Health who was not involved in the study. "But it's more complicated."
The study brings precision to a question that has never been definitively answered: the actual number of suicides since the start of the recent wars.
Overall, the suicide rates for recent veterans set them apart from veterans of past generations.
In the Vietnam era, suicide rates were elevated for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress or those wounded in action. But on the whole, suicide rates for veterans in their first few years out of the military were lower than in the general population, according to research.
The elevated rate today could reflect differences in who served, the study's authors speculate. In the days of the draft, troops represented a wider cross-section of society. The long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq may have attracted more volunteers prone to risk-taking and impulsive behaviors.
"We don't have the data to know," said Tim Bullman, a mortality expert and health statistician at the VA and coauthor of the paper.
Another possibility, he said, is that a weak economy during the recent wars made the transition to civilian life more difficult.
More puzzling is the suicide rate for veterans who never went to Afghanistan or Iraq. It was 16% higher than for those who did.
Bullman said one reason could be that service members with psychological problems were often held back from deployment. He added that that suicide prevention efforts had focused on service members and veterans who did go to war.
Experts have also suggested that the military may have become a less forgiving and nurturing place over the course of the wars. "The stresses are not limited to the individuals who are sent to war," Schoenbaum said.
A more detailed accounting of veteran mortality is on the horizon. A massive new data trove is being assembled by the Pentagon and the VA. Known as the Suicide Data Repository, it links national death records to military and healthcare data.
Among veterans who have served since 1974, the project has identified more than 2 million deaths of all types between 1979 and 2011, according to Robert Bossarte, a VA epidemiologist helping oversee the effort.
For each death, researchers will be able to learn the veteran's deployment history, education and other information.
Researchers plan to build on the current study — which does not include reservists or veterans who served after 2007 — and look at suicide rates for all 3.7 million veterans who served since 2001.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/health/us-suicide-rate-surges-to-a-30-year-high.html
“This is part of the larger emerging pattern of evidence of the links between poverty, hopelessness and health,” said Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard and the author of “Our Kids,” an investigation of new class divisions in America.
The rise in suicide rates has happened slowly over many years. Federal health researchers said they chose 1999 as the start of the period they studied because it was a low point in the national suicide rate and they wanted to cover the full period of its recent sustained rise.
...
Disappointed expectations of social and economic well-being among less educated white men from the baby-boom generation may also be playing a role, she said. They grew up in an era that valued “masculinity and self-reliance” — characteristics that could get in the way of asking for help.
“It appears this group isn’t seeking help but rather turning to self-destructive means of dealing with their despair,” Professor Phillips said.
Another possible explanation: an economy that has eaten away at the prospects of families on the lower rungs of the income ladder.
About Military Veterans - Detailed study confirms high suicide rate among recent veterans
Recent veterans have committed suicide at a much higher rate than people who never served in the military, according to a new analysis that provides the most thorough accounting so far of the problem.
The rate was slightly higher among veterans who never deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, suggesting that the causes extend beyond the trauma of war.
"People's natural instinct is to explain military suicide by the war-is-hell theory of the world," said Michael Schoenbaum, an epidemiologist and military suicide expert at the National Institute of Mental Health who was not involved in the study. "But it's more complicated."
The study brings precision to a question that has never been definitively answered: the actual number of suicides since the start of the recent wars.
Overall, the suicide rates for recent veterans set them apart from veterans of past generations.
In the Vietnam era, suicide rates were elevated for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress or those wounded in action. But on the whole, suicide rates for veterans in their first few years out of the military were lower than in the general population, according to research.
The elevated rate today could reflect differences in who served, the study's authors speculate. In the days of the draft, troops represented a wider cross-section of society. The long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq may have attracted more volunteers prone to risk-taking and impulsive behaviors.
"We don't have the data to know," said Tim Bullman, a mortality expert and health statistician at the VA and coauthor of the paper.
Another possibility, he said, is that a weak economy during the recent wars made the transition to civilian life more difficult.
More puzzling is the suicide rate for veterans who never went to Afghanistan or Iraq. It was 16% higher than for those who did.
Bullman said one reason could be that service members with psychological problems were often held back from deployment. He added that that suicide prevention efforts had focused on service members and veterans who did go to war.
Experts have also suggested that the military may have become a less forgiving and nurturing place over the course of the wars. "The stresses are not limited to the individuals who are sent to war," Schoenbaum said.
A more detailed accounting of veteran mortality is on the horizon. A massive new data trove is being assembled by the Pentagon and the VA. Known as the Suicide Data Repository, it links national death records to military and healthcare data.
Among veterans who have served since 1974, the project has identified more than 2 million deaths of all types between 1979 and 2011, according to Robert Bossarte, a VA epidemiologist helping oversee the effort.
For each death, researchers will be able to learn the veteran's deployment history, education and other information.
Researchers plan to build on the current study — which does not include reservists or veterans who served after 2007 — and look at suicide rates for all 3.7 million veterans who served since 2001.
