United States military veteran suicideFebruary 1, 2013. Ed Pilkington. US military struggling to stop suicide epidemic among war veterans. The Guardian. Retrieved: 23 May 2014.April 3, 2014. Jordain Carney. . National Journal. Retrieved: 23 May 2014. is an ongoing phenomenon regarding the high rate of suicide among U.S. military veterans in comparison to the general civilian public.January 10, 2014. Denver Nicks. Report: Suicide Rate Soars Among Young Vets. "The suicide rate among veterans remains well above that for the general population, with roughly 20 former servicemen and women committing suicide every day." TIME. Retrieved: 23 May 2014. A focus on preventing veteran suicide began in 1958 with the opening of the first suicide prevention center in the United States. During the mid-1990s, a paradigm shift in addressing veteran suicide occurred with the development of a national strategy which included several Congressional Resolutions. More advancements were made in 2007, when the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act created a comprehensive program including outreach at each Veterans Affairs Office (VA) and the implementation of a 24-hour crisis hotline (the Veterans Crisis Line). PTSD, depression, and combat-related guilt in veterans are often related to suicide as it can be difficult for veterans to transition to civilian life. It is hard for veterans to transition into civilian life because they are used to structured routines everyday while being in the military.
Background information In 2012 alone, an estimated 7,500 former military personnel died by suicide. More active duty service members, 177, died from suicide that year than were killed in combat, 176. The Army had 52% of the suicides from all branches.
In 2013, the United States Department of Veteran Affairs released a study that covered suicides from 1999 to 2010, which showed that roughly 22 veterans were committing suicide per day, or one every 65 minutes.February 1, 2013. U.S. military veteran suicides rise, one dies every 65 minutes. Reuters. Retrieved: 23 May 2014. Some sources suggest that this rate may be undercounting suicides.Moni Basu, Why suicide rate among veterans may be more than 22 a day, CNN, November 14, 2013. Retrieved: 25 December 2014 An analysis done in 2013 found a suicide rate among veterans of about 30 per 100,000 population per year, compared with the civilian rate of 14 per 100,000.Jeff Hargarten, Forrest Burnson, Bonnie Campo and Chase Cook, Veteran Suicides Twice as High as Civilian Rates, News21, Aug. 24, 2013. Retrieved: 25 December 2014. However, the comparison was not adjusted for age and sex.
According to a report published by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 2016, which analyzed 55 million veterans' records from 1979 to 2014, the current analysis indicates that an average of 20 veterans die from suicide per day.
A study released in 2022 found that as many as 44 veterans die on average per day from suicide when accounting overlooked causes of death that are aligned with suicidal and self harm behavior, which is 2.4 times greater than the official estimate.
A 2021 study by Brown University estimated that 30,177 veterans of post-9/11 conflicts had died by suicide. When compared to the 7,057 personnel killed in the conflicts, at least four times as many veterans died by suicide than personnel were killed during the post-9/11 conflicts.
According to a 2022 report by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, nearly half of U.S. military service members have seriously considered suicide since joining the Armed Forces.
A 2023 study led by the University of Texas at San Antonio examined suicide among veterans of post-9/11 conflicts. The study found that veterans that experienced traumatic brain injuries had higher suicide rates than veterans did not. It also found that the highest rates of veteran suicide were among those aged 35 to 44, those aged 25 to 34, Native Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and veterans with traumatic brain injuries. It additionally concluded that suicide among post-9/11 veterans had increased since 2018. It was theorized by the researchers that this increase was due to causes such as increased diagnoses of mental health conditions, substance abuse, and the availability of firearms. Firearms are the most commonly used suicide method among veterans.
The total number of suicides differs by age group; 31% of these suicides were by veterans 49 and younger while 69% were by veterans aged 50 and older.February 5, 2013. Melanie Haiken. Suicide Rate Among Vets and Active Duty Military Jumps - Now 22 A Day. Forbes. Retrieved: 23 May 2014. As with suicides in general, suicide of veterans is primarily male, with about 97 percent of the suicides being male in the states that reported gender. In addition to differences among age and gender groups, there has also been found to be significant disparity in suicidal ideation and completion rates among marginalized groups such as LGBT military members. Suicidal ideation was found to be 2-3 times greater in LGBT active-duty and veteran service members, with transgender veterans having been found to commit suicide at double the rates of their cisgender peers.
In 2015, the Clay Hunt Veterans Suicide Prevention Act passed in the Senate and was then enacted as on February 12, 2015. It requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to organize an annual third-party evaluation of the VA's mental health care and suicide prevention programs, to mandate website updates at least once every 90 days about the VA's mental health care services, to offer educational incentives for psychiatrists who commit to serving in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), to collaborate with nonprofit mental health organizations with the goal of preventing veteran suicide, and to extend veterans' eligibility for VA hospital care, medical service care, and nursing home care. However, the limitations of this act are very restricting. Veterans can only access extended eligibility if they have been discharged or released from active duty between the years of 2009 and 2011 and if they have not enrolled in care during the five years following their discharge. +Annual number of suicides per 100,000 population. 2000–2010.Changes in Suicide Mortality for Veterans and Nonveterans by Gender and History of VHA Service Use, 2000–2010. By Claire A. Hoffmire, Ph.D., Janet E. Kemp, R.N., Ph.D., Robert M. Bossarte, Ph.D.. Published online: May 01, 2015. Psychiatric Services, Volume 66 Issue 9, September 01, 2015, pp. 959-965. . Never servedin military Veterans andactive service Women 5.2 28.7 Men 20.9 32.1
In August 2016, the VA released another report which consisted of the nation's largest analysis of veteran suicide. The report reviewed more than 55 million veterans' records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The previous report from 2012 was primarily limited to data on veterans who used VHA health services or from mortality records obtained directly from 20 states and approximately 3 million records. Compared to the data from the 2012 report, which estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide to be 22 per day, the current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 veterans a day died from suicide.In 2019, the VA released its National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which stated that the suicide rate for veterans was 1.5 times the rate of non-veteran adults. The report established that there were 6000 or more veteran suicides per year from 2008 to 2017. The report also stated that veterans consist of 13.5% of all deaths by suicide in US adults but only make up 7.9% of the US adult population.
In May 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, called the PREVENTS Initiative, to counter veteran suicide. The initiative aims to equip state and local governments with the resources necessary to identify and intervene in scenarios where United States Veterans may be at risk to suicide. In the past, the Veteran's Administration and other federal agencies relied upon the veteran to self-identify when needing help. $73.1 billion was secured for veteran health services. Included in the $73.1 billion funding is $18.6 billion towards mental health services.
In November 2019, the House of Representatives discussed a potential program that would provide grants to local organizations that support veterans who are possibly overlooked by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The motivation behind targeting this demographic of overlooked veterans is that statistically, 14 out of the 20 estimated veterans and current service members who die from suicide every day are not in regular communication with the department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This proposal, pushed by the VA, was for a test program that was to last three years. However, this idea languished in Congress despite some bipartisan support.
Social policy: history of veteran suicide prevention The first suicide prevention center in the United States was opened in Los Angeles in 1958 with funding from the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1966, the Center for Studies of Suicide Prevention (later the Suicide Research Unit) was established at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Later on, in 1970, the NIMH pushed in Phoenix the discussion about the status of suicide prevention, presented relevant findings about suicide rate and identified the future directions and priorities of the topic.
However, it wasn't until mid-1990s when suicide started being the central issue of the political-social agenda of the United States. Survivors from suicide began to mobilize encouraging the development of a national strategy for suicide prevention. Two Congressional Resolutions—S. Res. 84 and H. Res. 212 of the 105th Congress—recognized suicide as a national problem and suicide prevention as a national priority.
As recommended in the U.N. guidelines, these groups set out to establish a public and private partnership that would be responsible for promoting suicide prevention in the United States. This partnership jointly sponsored a national consensus conference on suicide prevention in Reno, Nevada, which developed a list of 81 recommendations.
Key points from Reno, Nevada conference Suicide prevention must recognize and affirm the value, dignity, and importance of each person. Suicide is not solely the result of illness or inner conditions. The feelings of hopelessness that contribute to suicide can stem from societal conditions and attitudes. Therefore, everyone concerned with suicide prevention shares a responsibility to help change attitudes and eliminate the conditions of oppression, racism, homophobia, discrimination, and prejudice. Some groups are disproportionately affected by these societal conditions, and some are at greater risk for suicide. Individuals, communities, organizations, and leaders at all levels should collaborate to promote suicide prevention. The success of this strategy ultimately rests with individuals and communities across the United States.
Federal policy initiatives