For the month of June, the U.S. Department of Defense reported late last week that the number of soldiers who took their own lives — those who committed suicide — was an astonishing 32 individuals, 21 of whom were on active duty (but only one-third of those on active duty were serving in either Iraq or Afghanistan).
This corresponds to the ongoing record-setting of the number of suicides in the past year — 245 who died in 2009 and the 145 who have committed suicide already in 2010. At the rate of suicides so far this year, 2010 will exceed 2009 in suicides.
Who does the Army blame for this rise in suicides? Why, the people who commit suicide, of course, and the very culture they work to instill from Day One in boot camp.
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This article reawakens so much anger I had while in the Army.
Anytime anyone went to sick call, whether it was for mental or physical health, EVERYONE acted like you were faking. Everyone being your fellow soldiers, your leaders, the people at the hospital…that was the worst. When the hospital staff all acting like you were faking. Sure, there are people who are faking, because it’s hard sometimes and you just want a break. But come on. Sometimes it’s going to be for real.
I personally experienced psychologists telling me nothing was wrong with me. Not paying attention during one-on-one therapy. Group therapy where the psychologists couldn’t even remember our names. Where a soldier said, “it makes me feel like you’re not paying attention to us because you sit there totally distracted, burning the long threads off your uniform with a lighter.” And the psychologist just kept doing it.
Now I have a permanently injured knee and wrist, and who knows what’s going on in my head to make me feel so miserable all the time. Thanks to the Army and their attitude of “suck it up and drive on,” I didn’t get the treatment I needed immediately and things got bad.
So now I have no problem taking disability every month. Sorry tax payers. But the Army owes me this. Maybe we can all get together to fix it? Just stop pretending like it isn’t a problem, k?
There is an e program that works to help active duty and veterans with their struggles. It does use e-therapy and their programs are free. I’ve never used their services but from what I’ve read about them they do seem to have a well designed program. http://www.vetsprevail.com is the website and their name is VetsPrevail. It is a group based in Chicago of veterans and behavioral health professionals. Hope this is useful to someone
To we-joe: That sounds like horrible treatment. I’m very sorry to hear about what happened to you with psychologists and other peers in the Army. They/We definitely owe you.
Of course some illnesses are more of a problem for others than they are for the patient, and one does get the subtle message that, e.g., a knee injury or a broken bone, is less upsetting to others than mental symptoms. But I’m learning that injuries are not ideal, either. Be careful and mindful of your physical motions.
I think a DBT(Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) support group, but first a one-on-one therapist, stateside, would be crucial. But it’s advisable to shop around. The therapist who takes you seriously may not be the first one you interview. You want to feel the relationship click.
I’d highly recommend Belleruth Naprastek’s Guided Imagery CD at http://www .healthjourneys.com on PTSD, which was made specifically with our troops in mind. Wishing you a good outcome to all this.
PS: Gary Trudeau in Doonesbury took the plight of the troops quite seriously and he did good cartoons about post-traumatic counseling for an amputee.
The Washington Post had an article yesterday that is relevant – on PTSD and head trauma, related and different. Heartbreaking.
Then today I heard from a military guy at my company “If we find something not working right in the service, then we change the regulations”.
So, WHEN, WHEN, will we see the new regulations on how to treat service members with mental illness?
EMDR has been invented especially to treat traumas linked to going to war.
It should therefore be very useful in avoiding soldiers to commit suicide.
I thought that EMDR was widely used in the US…?
Being a service member myself I understand the need for private sessions. Group therapy is a joke in the military. I have seen therapists in the civilian world and the military world and have personaly seen alot better results from individual sessions instead of in a group. While serving I had to go to therapy i wouldnt do the group sessions for the exact reasons here. thats just how I work though. I think that it doesnt matter what your job is some people just dont work well in group sessions. I dont really know anything about this e-therapy but it just sounds fishy to me. I think you need that personal contact with someone to really hear them out. Then again theses are all my opinions.
and to we-joe I completely understand what your saying and I agree fully with you. I heard alot of that “your faking it” but I was like look at my medical records ive been dealing with this before I joined the army and people took a diffrent look at it. but did anyone really care? Did i help myself in therapy or did they help me? Did people ever stop thinking i was faking it? Whos to say?
I have some bad news: the Internet isn’t confidential in that way that you’d want therapy to be confidential, right? If online medical records aren’t secure enough for the country, I can’t imagine that soldiers (whose online presence when they’re on base is quite rightly both restricted and monitored) would be well-served by disclosing extremely confidential and potentially career-ending information on the internets.