VA Reports Attempted Suicides Went Up Too

Before more people decide to raise awareness without reading the report like they did the last time, here is the link to the VA Suicide Report.

Veteran Suicide Facts and Data

But while we're talking about it, notice a few facts. Notice the number of attempted suicides and then notice the numbers in the charts below along with seeing how not much has changed. How about you make folks aware of that fact?

A history of non-fatal suicide attempts is recognized to be among the most robust risk factors for suicide.

Among VHA patients, reports of suicide attempt can be identified through review of external injury codes associated with health services (i.e., obtained from medical records) or from the Suicide Prevention applications Network (SPAN), VHA’s internal suicide event case management and tracking system. As shown in Figure 5, monthly reports of non-fatal suicide attempts based on SPAN data increased between 2012 and 2014, ranging from just over 600 reported attempts in May 2012 to almost 900 in August 2014.

VHA’s health care system includes an increasing number of patients with factors, such as a history of suicide attempts, associated with risk for suicide