OUR VIEW : Combating suicide

Mental stress threatens our troops

— As the country engages in a heated - and necessary - debate about health-care reform, we draw your attention to a health-related issue that often gets overlooked, but one that should matter to all Americans.

The issue is the mental health of the men and women who serve in our armed forces.

Having waged wars on two different fronts for the majority of this decade, the United States has had to call on the same people multiple times to leave their families and fight for their country.

They are lucky, of course, if they return home alive and without serious injuries. But even then, their minds might have been affected in some way by their experiences at war. Or maybe they have returned home to a situation different from the one they had known before being deployed: perhaps a marriage has disintegrated, or a former employer has closed shop.

Whatever it is, many current and former U.S. soldiers are hurting inside. The Army reported 128 confirmed suicides and 15 suspected suicides in 2008 - a suicide rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers. The national suicide rate for 2007, the latest year for which data are available, was 11.6 per 100,000 residents. The Army has never experienced as many suicides in a single year as it did in 2008.

This is such an issue that the Department of Defense is investing $50 million in suicide research this year. Fifty million!

The Arkansas National Guard is struggling with this problem.

This year, it has had two deaths ruled suicides, and another twodeaths are under investigation.

Five other deaths have been ruled "unattended," meaning it is unknown whether they were accidental or intentional. On Friday, Maj. Gen. Bill Wofford, the state's adjutant general, asked for Arkansans' help in identifying soldiers who might be struggling with suicidal thoughts.

So we're spreading the word in hopes of helping Wofford and our troops. Common signs that a person might be contemplating suicide include irritability, alcohol or drug abuse, isolation, depression, changes in eating or sleeping habits, giving away personal items and (this one should be obvious) talking about suicide.

We should add that it's not just soldiers struggling with mental health. During a visit to Rogers earlier this month on National Suicide Awareness and Prevention Day, our first lady, Ginger Beebe, informed us that each week, one person in Benton and Washington counties commits suicide, and a couple dozen more try. Between 70 percent and 90 percent of suicide victims were mentally ill when they died, and mental illnesses can be treated.

When evaluating the cost of war, the toll it takes on a person's psyche must be taken into account. Though war's effects on our troops are far more apparent when they are of a physical nature, the mental effects are no less important. We owe it to our troops to ensure that they are getting the best possible treatment for both their bodies and their minds. That starts with identifying those who need help.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 09/22/2009

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