Lifting the veil on military suicides starts with getting report right

A third of military suicides told of plans to die

By DAN ELLIOTT
Associated Press

"About 46 percent had been seen at a military treatment facility sometime in the 90 days before death. The treatment services include physical and behavioral health, substance abuse, family advocacy and chaplains."

Ok, now that you see what was already known, now we get a piece that tells a different story.

Lifting the veil on military suicides
By Jeremy Schwartz
Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 11:43 AM

The The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, which holds a trove of interesting information and statistics about war injuries and deaths, today released the results of a comprehensive study that looked at visits to doctors or clinics in the weeks preceding a suicide or possible suicide attempt or self-injury. Researchers reached some results that should increase our understanding of the record suicide numbers plaguing the military in recent years:
A very small percentage of service members who sought medical help went to a mental health specialist before suicide or suicide attempt. And the majority of service members (55 percent) did not see a doctor in the 30 days prior to suicide.
Of the troops who committed suicide and sought medical treatment, few visited mental health professionals. Only 4.4 percent sought general mental health help, 2.9 percent sought psychiatric help and 2 percent sought psychological help. About 5 percent sought substance abuse help.
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