Commentary: New solutions are needed to help with the military suicide stigma – By Brandon Alward (Military Times) / Mar 17 2021
The unfortunate reality with having a tie with the United States military is the increased likelihood to have a tie with suicide. Service member and veteran suicide rates are nearly 50 percent higher than their civilian counterparts. Suicide has become the leading cause of death of service members and the rate at which members are committing suicide is drastically increasing. The Defense Suicide Prevention Office was established to investigate the rates and causes of suicide in the military and observed that the suicide rate has been on a steady incline. Suicide in the United States military has a massive impact on all parties involved and something desperately needs to be done to stop the rising numbers.
In the calendar year 2013, the number of suicides from active components of the Defense Department totaled 256 members. The calendar year 2019 totaled to 348, and as we await the report for quarter four of CY 2020, the total already amounts to 280 members. The increase is also present among the Reserve component (134 at the close of quarter three) and the National Guard (78 at the close of quarter three) (Orvis, 2020). As we can see this is a rising issue that deserves attention until the tides are turned on these catastrophic events.
Being in the military brings with it a stigma that service members are warriors, that they are the strongest members on the battlefield, that showing any sign of weakness degrades themselves, the unit, and the military as a whole. The fear service members face while speaking honestly about mental health issues is a leading role in the cause of the rising suicide rate. “These different contexts help explain the cause of mental health stigma. Fearing institutional repercussions, adopting the public’s prejudice toward mentally ill people, and feeling ashamed of how friends and family may perceive your issues combine to create an individual’s stigma from within.” (Hooper, 2020, para. 9). Hooper goes on to explain different stressors that every service member feels such as long separations from family, loss of freedom and control over one’s life, and mass amounts of uncertainty and anxiety. These are the stressors that affect everyone and when adding in additional stressor like under manning, relationship hardships, financial hardships, deployments, and administrative/legal issues create an environment in dire need of mental health reform.
