In the recent years, mental health professionals have turned their focus to the high military suicide rates. Now, a new study delves deeper into the topic, revealing that suicide attempts in the military don't necessarily stem from combat.
The study, which examines over 163,000 soldiers, shows that at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army soldiers that were at the highest risk for suicide were those that were never deployed. In addition, this risk was greatest just two months into service.
Although the findings are somewhat surprising, by no means do they mean that deployment has protective effects against suicide.
"It is more likely that those who are not deployed are already at a higher risk for suicide, and that is one of the reasons they were not cleared to deploy," said Alan Peterson, a military mental health researcher from the University of Texas who wasn't involved in the study.
In the past, suicide rates of soldiers were lower than the general population. During the wars of the last 15 years, these rates have skyrocketed.
"Suicide rates in the army have traditionally been about half of those in a similar civilian population," said Robert Ursano from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and lead author of the study. "During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rates increased and surpassed those of civilians. They have remained high."
Ursano and his team examined samples of soldiers that attempted suicide and served between the years 2004 and 2009. Of the 9,650 soldiers in this sample, they were separated into three groups: currently deployed, previously deployed and never deployed.
The results revealed that those who were never deployed - along with women - were more than three times as likely to attempt suicide than the other groups. In addition, soldiers in their first two years of service and soldiers who received a mental health diagnosis in the previous month were high-risk.
Despite the fact that the soldiers who were never deployed made up 40 percent of all the soldiers in the study, they made up 61 percent of those who committed suicide.
"During deployment, when the enemy is trying to kill you, the natural human reaction is one of self-preservation," Peterson said. "This may help explain some of the reduced risk for suicide during deployments."
The data also revealed that after deployment, suicide risk is the highest in the fifth month following their return.
"Service members have more time to think about their deployment experiences," Peterson said. "Those with PTSD, depression, substance-use disorders and guilt and shame related to deployment are at increased risk for suicide."
"Our goal is to identify who, when and where people are at risk," Ursano said. "This provides helpful information on which groups to develop interventions for as well as possible mechanisms [that] increase risk."
The findings were published in the May 25 issue of JAMA Psychiatry.
