Why Heroes Kill Themselves

Why Heroes Kill Themselves
Huffington Post
Ruth Bettelheim, Ph.D. and Geralynn S. Knorr, MS CCC
Posted: 11/10/2012

Imagine that you're hung over and haven't slept in two nights. You can't think clearly, can't focus or concentrate. You forget things -- even important things -- and spend your energy just trying to stay awake and drag yourself through the day. When you finally get to sleep, you drift off hoping tomorrow will be better. But it won't.

That's what life with traumatic brain injury (TBI) is like, relentlessly.

It's one reason suicide rates among the military are at an all-time high. Additionally, the brain changes identified among athletes who committed suicide are being inflicted upon military personnel with the same deadly result -- one person on active duty now kills himself every day; one veteran dies by his own hand every 80 minutes. Suicide is now the most common form of death in the Army, claiming more lives than combat or motor vehicle accidents. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, Army Vice Chief of Staff, said: "Suicide is the toughest enemy I have faced in my 37 years in the Army." This enemy will not be defeated until we recognize the link between TBI and suicide, and are able to quickly and effectively diagnose and treat TBI.
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