There is a growing literature and much research underway on suicide among members of the military and veterans. There are also (in US at least) some grief support resources (e.g., VA, TAPS) specifically for those affected by such losses. However, it would seem that the heavy media attention focused on possible risk factors and triggers (i.e., PTSD, multiple deployments, combat exposure, marital issues, problems adjusting to civilian life, etc.) might bear on the grieving process of family members and others. To be sure these "survivors" may have much in common with others dealing with suicide loss, but the overarching "presence" of military training, experience, and values (code) would seem to play a role also.
Dear Tony,
Something about the problem and about Durkheim's ideas on the issue:
Reframing Suicide in the Military by George R. Mastroianni and Wilbur J. Scott (2011)
"suicides continue to occur at unusually high rates in the military...."
"In normal conditions, the collective order is regarded as just by the great majority of persons. . . . Since this regulation is meant to restrain individual passions, it must come from a power that dominates individuals; but this power must also be obeyed through respect, not fear.
. . . But when society is disturbed by some painful crisis or by beneficent but abrupt transitions, it is momentarily incapable of exercising this influence; thus comes the sudden rises in the curves of suicide"
In certain suddenly changed circumstances "the core belief" i shaken and the "code" (that it is OK to kill or fight for the Vaterland) is not fully internalized (because killing people goes against normal behaviour , my opinion) and out of these conflicting values suicide can follow.
read more:
http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/Articles/2011summer/Mastroianni%20and%20Scott.pdf
Dear Tony
Dr. Julie Cerel at the University of Kentucky has been doing work in this area.
Hapy Thanksgiving,Holly
This question is often brought up in anti-psychiatry conversations and answered by saying that the overuse of medications are causing increased suicide. Antidepressants do after all have increased tendency of suicide and homicidal thinking as listed side effects. Another issue is cocktails of drugs having unknown combined effects on people, with every person having an individualized reaction. Also poor social/emotional systems in place to deal with PTSD in a fully supported and safe environment.
What is even sadder than losing young people is that their grieving families will probably be offered medication to 'cope' thus placing them is the same risky position as their family members were in. Best solution of all would be don't sent people to war, stay in your own country, focus resources on home soil and be healthy. Unfortunately this solution would make those who profit from both war and medications very unhappy....
Heather: Thank you for your comments. Your point about medicating those bereaved by suicide (and other deaths) is well-taken. While apparently not well-researched it is a fairly common practice in US. I have been told by those who experienced a suicide that being put on antidepressants actually interfered with their grieving ("I couldn't cry." "I don't understand why I don't feel the loss more."). Meds may "treat" some side effects of acute bereavement but they do not mitigate it. Indeed they add a stigmatizing psychiatric diagnosis to the medical history of individuals who are often not clinically depressed (and often already stigmatized by the nature of their loss). Moreover, as you note, this practice adds a growing market to Big Pharma. Wasn't that why grief was almost pathologized in the DSM-V?
We are just wrapping up our study. This white paper describes some preliminary findings:https://msrc.fsu.edu/white-paper/promoting-resilience-following-suicide-exposure-military-populations. Please let me know if you have further questions.
Julie: I very much appreciate this information. It is my experience that the lack of suicide postvention and support in historically grief-unfriendly settings (e.g., military, police, corrections) likely contributes to the ongoing risk of suicide among those who must silently cope with the aftermath of a suicide in such settings. My question, however, was specifically prompted by a call from a VA Suicide Prevention Specialist seeking suicide loss support resources for a VAMC patient who took his life. The survivors were very much a military family and were looking for any kind of information that would help them deal with their loss in that context. They were referred to local support groups but they still expressed a need to come to terms with what brings about a suicide in a Veteran and how military and post-military experiences played a role.
Articles like this might be helpful to military families: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/21/us/22-veteran-suicides-a-day/ and https://msrc.fsu.edu/news/military-suicides-decline-continued-failures-hold-lessons-future-wars
Those of you interested in the experiences of family members bereaved by the suicide of a loved one on active duty may be informed by the article from Stars and Stripes:.
http://www.stripes.com/news/military-suicide-survivors-help-each-other-heal-at-seminar-1.310858?utm_source=New+Design+Weekly+Spark+Dec.+5%2C+2014&utm_campaign=Weekly+Spark+December+5%2C+2014&utm_medium=email
Thank you, it happened here too that men who went to fight for other countries came home and hanged them selves.
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