Veterans over 50 78% of veteran suicides

Hey, lets not talk about the truth behind the numbers. Lets not talk about how we suck at taking care of veterans after sending them off to fight our battles. Lets not talk about how what they have been going through for decades predicts the future of today's veterans unless we change right here, right now.

"Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide"

The military did psychological screenings all the way back to WWI and ever since then, they have managed to put the blame on everyone and everything else. PTSD WWI and WWII

War II. Prominent civil and military medical authorities pointed out that World War I had demonstrated the necessity and feasibility of psychiatric screening in eliminating overt and covert mental disorders prior to entry in the military service. Emphasized by these authorities, based upon the experience of World War I, was the inability of emotionally unstable or otherwise psychiatrically vulnerable persons to absorb training profitably, to tolerate stress, or otherwise to make any useful contribution to the military effort. Also cited as further evidence for the thorough screening out of even potential psychiatric problems was the high cost of mental disorders in war that included their deleterious effect on other soldiers, the increased requirements of medical personnel and facilities to care for these problems, disability pensions, and other veterans' benefits.

During World War II, almost one fourth of all American psychologists were involved in the military. In addition to the screening of recruits, military psychologists were involved in the development of instrument displays, protective gear and placement of controls in aircraft.

The use of psychological warfare and methods of deceiving the enemy were also areas that required the involvement of a military psychologist. In addition to finding ways to affect the enemy, a military psychologist would have been involved in methods to increase soldier morale and deal with any stress issues that the soldiers may face.

Unlike the time after World War I, military psychology did not disappear at the end of World War II. Various veterans' hospitals began training clinical psychologists who could understand the needs of a veteran as well as diagnose and treat other problems. Over fifty percent of all veterans in VA hospitals at that time were diagnosed with a psychological problem.

In a further development, the American Psychological Association organized the Society of Military Psychology in 1945. This society which was also known as Division 19 was one of the original divisions organized by the American Psychological Association.

During the Korean War, clinical psychologists began working overseas with soldiers and in the Vietnam War an increase in psychological problems associated with war was seen.

Post traumatic stress disorder became one of the leading problems faced by Vietnam vets.

Clinicians were deployed with the troops in Korea. As soon as a soldier was showing symptoms of a crisis, they were removed from combat, treated and for the most part, sent back to duty. With Vietnam they tried something new. DEROS, one year deployments. This decreased medical evacuations for psychiatric cases but on the flip side, increased the number of veterans with untreated PTSD.

The result is;

Older Vets Committing Suicide at Alarming Rate
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Aug 31, 2014

Veteran suicide numbers have gone up in recent years with much of the attention focused on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan killing themselves. However, almost seven out of 10 veterans who have committed suicide were over the age of 50, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study.

Even as the agency collects data to better understand the issue, independent experts acknowledge that finding all the answers won't be easy.

"Nobody knows anything about [why], but we suspect a combination of factors," said Dr. Tom Berger, a Navy corpsman in Vietnam and today executive director of the Veterans Health Council at Vietnam Veterans of America. "Certainly we share some of the risk factors with the younger guys," including post-traumatic stress disorder, high rates of depression and combat.

Older veterans are at an age when the structure they built into their lives starts to loosen up, he said.

"A lot of guys went in, and then they came out and became a workaholic rather than deal with depression and PTSD," he said. They covered over stresses born of service with work and family, but the stresses remain today and the vets are going into retirement and the family structure dissipates as children go or have gone their own ways.

For Korean War veterans it may even be worse. Many of these veterans would have been in their 40s before the VA - under pressure from Vietnam veterans and politicians - acknowledged PTSD was real and began providing services to veterans.

"The Korean guys don't talk about their service, and some of them were involved in the bloodiest battles ... in brutal, cold weather," Berger said.

The VA study found that the percentage of older veterans with a history of VA healthcare who committed suicide actually was higher than that of veterans not associated with VA care. Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide - 9 percentage points higher than the general pool.
read more here