Sep

28

SUICIDE: DID YOU KNOW?

Filed Under Combat PTSD, Life, PTSD treatment, Tears of a Warrior, Trauma, Treating PTSD, War 

by Janet J. Seahorn, Ph.D

                            

Did you Know:sun-ray-4

·       

     Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in America.  Every year it takes more lives than auto accidents.

·        Suicide impacts kids as young as five and as old as ninety-five.

·        The rate of suicide in the armed forces continues to grow with each deployment.

·        Current statistics show an active-duty suicide every 36 hours – 18 veterans a day dies by their own hand (Lily Casura, Napa Valley Register, 9/19/2010).

·        Women vets are two – three times more likely to commit suicide than non-veteran women (American Psychiatric Association)

·        Suicide is more than an emotional state; it is a physical condition as well.

·        Depression is treatable… suicide is not —– the final step has already been taken.

 

            Combat is an unhealthy enough challenge.  Yet, when a veteran returns home, the struggle may be even worse. Worse because there are fewer people to talk to who understand what he/she has gone through. Worse because during combat one didn’t always have time to think about the horrors of war; now at home, there is often too much time to think. And worse, because depression of any kind is a hidden desperado that becomes a very real physical condition, few understand and address the issue.

 

            In so many cultures, including American, we have been led to believe that depression is something that is strictly emotional.  Something that we can easily get over if we just put our “minds” to it.  It invades every cell of the body. It steals the good hormones such as serotonin, endorphins, dopamine… and replaces them with a whopping dose of cortisol – one of the stress hormones that cause fight, flight, or freeze.  Unfortunately for many, the way one may must fight or fight depression is suicide.

 

            One reason this issue is so important to me is it hits close to home. In the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, suicide has already been the cause of over 39 deaths this year – far more than those who die in traffic accidents. One of those statistics was a close friend of a student in my university class. Imagine sitting in class and getting a text message stating your close friend has taken her life. When I was teaching middle school many years ago, a wonderful young man decided to end his life before he ever had a chance to begin his life. His parents were certain their child’s death was an accident, even though evidence indicate the young man made three different attempts at ending his life before one finally worked.

 

            It is important we all know more about this topic, Suicide. Like any enemy, the more we know about our opponent, the better we can fight the battle and win. So I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes by Emily Dickinson, “Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.”  Try to keep opening new doors; sunshine is waiting behind one of them. sun-ray-3

Comments

One Response to “SUICIDE: DID YOU KNOW?”

  1. Lisa Evancho on September 29th, 2010 4:21 pm

    When we talk about such things we usually forgot many things about that and people should read this to get more information about it.