{"id":25310,"date":"2013-02-04T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=25310"},"modified":"2013-02-11T11:39:34","modified_gmt":"2013-02-11T11:39:34","slug":"study-22-military-veterans-commit-suicide-every-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/02\/study-22-military-veterans-commit-suicide-every-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: 22 US Military Veterans Commit Suicide Every Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The results of a new study<\/a> indicate that suicide rates among veterans in the United States are increasing.<\/i><\/p>\n

An estimated 22 military veterans take their lives every day in America, according to the study helmed by Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist and researcher who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the percentage of all suicides reported as Veterans has decreased, the number of\u00a0suicides has increased,\u201d the conclusion of the study stated.<\/p>\n

Specific trends were observed during the course of the study regarding the age and gender of veterans who most frequently committed suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cA majority of Veteran suicides are among those age 50 years and older. Male Veterans who die by suicide are older than non-Veteran males who die by suicide,\u201d the study\u2019s findings stated. \u201cThe age distribution of Veteran and non-Veteran women who have died from suicide is similar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study was conducted over the course of two years, and is, according to Bossarte, indicative mainly of veteran suicides playing a part in what is a national problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a perception that we have a veterans\u2019 suicide epidemic on our hands. I don\u2019t think that is true,\u201d he was quoted as saying by the paper. \u201cThe rate is going up in the country, and veterans are a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the Washington Post<\/a> is reporting that the rate of veteran suicides discovered by Bossarte is approximately 20 percent higher than 2007 figures offered by the VA.<\/p>\n

Representatives of the VA said the study is a part of their continued efforts to prevent veteran suicides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mental health and well-being of our courageous men and women who have served the nation is the highest priority for VA, and even one suicide is one too many,\u201d he said in a statement to the Post.<\/p>\n

Bossarte and others are hopeful that the findings of the study will assist in creating better prevention programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough this was not a research-based analysis and there are significant limitations in the data that are available \u2026 this first attempt at a comprehensive review of Veteran suicide does provide us with valuable information for future directions in care and program development,\u201d the study stated.<\/p>\n

Others, however, feel the effort put forth by the VA is too insignificant in comparison to the larger issue at hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the VA wants to get its arms around this problem, why does it have such a small number of people working on it?\u201d retired Col. and former Army psychiatrist Elspeth Cameron Ritchie rhetorically asked the Post. \u201cThis is a start, but it is a faint start. It is not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 cbslocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The results of a new study indicate that suicide rates among veterans in the United States are increasing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglo-america","category-militarism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}