Lowering Suicide Risk In Returning Troops

Lowering Suicide Risk in Returning Troops: Wounds of War discusses the topic of increased suicide risk in service men and women around the world. Research has shown that those who have served in both combat missions and peacekeeping operations are at an increased risk for suicide. Research suggests that this may result from their ‘wounds of war’. Some wounds may be more ‘invisible’; such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and chronic pain, while others are more visibly apparent; such as physical disabilities. Whatever the wound, however, it seems they may all lead to an increased risk of suicide. In this book, many aspects of military suicide and how to effectively deal with this issue are discussed. Specifically, some of the questions raised are: How do we detect those who are vulnerable to increased suicide risk, possibly due to a combination of genetics and past environmental insults? How do we most appropriately assess for increased risk? Once detected, how do we help to decrease that risk? Are there pre-deployment training methods we can employ to help ‘inoculate’ individuals against increased risk? Are there in-theater and post-deployment methods most appropriate for dealing with this risk?

Discusses the topic of increased suicide risk in service men and women around the world. This book discusses various aspects of military suicide and how to effectively deal with this issue.

Discusses the topic of increased suicide risk in service men and women around the world. This book discusses various aspects of military suicide and how to effectively deal with this issue.

International conference held at Klopeiner See, S'udk'arnten, Austria, Oct. 19-21, 2009.

Suicide is a major public health concern in the United States (US), claiming over 36,000 lives each year and nearly 100 lives each day, and suicide among military and Veteran populations is of particular concern. Veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, referred to as Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans, may be particularly at risk, although the limited available data has shown mixed results. Several aspects of military experience may increase the risk of suicide, including mental health and substance abuse. Many risk factors specific to the OEF/OIF population have yet to be thoroughly evaluated and incorporated into clinical management. Ideally, suicide risk assessment tools need to account for the relationship among different risk factors and identify risk factors or combinations of risk factors that are particularly associated with suicidal self-directed violence. To be practically useful, such tools will be brief enough to be conducted in a primary care setting and will identify a threshold beyond which preventive action should be taken. Risk assessment tools should be able to discriminate those at high- and low-risk for suicidal self-directed violence. Likewise, studies of emerging risk factors need to evaluate the contribution of a new potential predictor of suicide and self-directed violence in the context of known risk factors in order to weigh the contribution of the new risk factor against those that are currently known. The objective of this report is to review recent evidence about risk factors and risk assessment tools within Veteran and military populations to provide evidence for clinical practice guideline development specific to these populations. The key questions addressed in this report were: Key Question #1. What assessment tools are effective for assessing risk of engaging in suicidal self-directed violence in Veteran and military populations? Key Question #2. In addition to the risk factors included by current assessment tools, what other risk factors predict suicidal self-directed violence in Veteran and military populations?

It has been shown that those who have served in both combat missions and peacekeeping operations are at increased risk for pain syndromes. Research suggests that this may result from their “wounds of war.” Some wounds may be “invisible,” such as depression, stress, and chronic pain, while others, such as physical disabilities, are more obvious. In October 2011, twenty-seven scientists and representatives from NATO and partner countries met in Südkärnten, Austria for a three-day NATO Advanced Research Workshop entitled “Wounds of War: Pain Syndromes – From Recruitment to Returning Troops.” The aim of this publication, which presents papers from that workshop, is to critically assess the existing knowledge and to identify directions for future actions. The book addresses four key questions: 1. Vulnerability to Pain syndromes: Are certain types of people at a higher risk for pain syndromes (background, ethnicity, childhood trauma, etc.)? 2. Diagnosis and Assessment Issues of Pain Syndromes: Which methods are used to diagnose and assess pain? 3. Treatment of Pain Syndromes: What are the latest treatment and therapy opportunities for soldiers who experience pain syndromes? 4. Clinical Updates on Pain Syndromes: What can we learn from recent clinical updates on pain syndromes?

This book explores suicide prevention perspectives from around the world, considering both professionals’ points of view as well as first-person accounts from suicidal individuals. Scholars around the globe have puzzled over what makes a person suicidal and what is in the minds of those individuals who die by suicide. Most often the focus is not on the motives for suicide, nor on the phenomenology of this act, but on what is found from small cohorts of suicidal individuals. This book offers a tentative synthesis of a complex phenomenon, and sheds some light on models of suicide that are less frequently encountered in the literature. Written by international experts, it makes a valuable contribution to the field of suicidology that appeals to a wide readership, from mental health professionals to researchers in suicidology and students.

This treatment manual provides mental health professionals with instructions for conducting written exposure therapy, a brief and accessible trauma intervention that is effective at reducing PTSD symptoms.