PsychSense: Sensible Psychological Solutions

The NY Times  this morning reports  that the rising toll of suicides in the military has hit a National Guard unit particularly hard: four soldiers, out of roughly 175 members, have committed suicide.

The Suicide rate in US soldiers in Iraq is higher then it’s been in years. According to CNN, every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day.

 I was thinking about this and wondering why this was so much worse then in the past. What I thought might be a contributing factor is the new military policy of extending duty time at will. This is very hard on soldiers or anyone for that matter. As we all know, you can live through almost anything when there is an end in site. However, when the end time is unsure, or can get extended or put off at any time for unknown reasons, those affected feel out of control, helpless and hopeless.

 Recently a teenage boy who jumped out of a dorm window while drunk left a local college campus and community deeply shaken. He will probably be paralyzed for the rest of his life.  After hearing about this I read a distressing study about teenage self-destructive behavior. The Child and Adolescent Self harm Study From Europe (Brunel University September 4, 2008) reveals more disturbing data about teenagers and cutting.

1.    One out of four cases is not reported and 25% had not told anyone else. How many do we not know about?

There is a long complicated article in the NY Times today about suicide and impulsivity that is worth a read (if you can manage it.)

“Suicide autopsy” studies can give us lots of information, but no one really knows what goes through the head of a person just before he or she dies from suicide, it may be regret as suggested by one person interviewed by the author.

There are a few comments I would like to make about the article and suicide in general that are based on my own years of experience, and thoughts. If you can’t get through the article hopefully they will still make some sense to you.