Resources: Veteran Mental Health

(CBS)  CBS News this week reported the findings of a five-month investigation into veteran suicides.

The results were startling: according to data from 45 states, 6,256 men and women who had served in the armed forces took their own lives in 2005 - that's 120 suicides every week. Chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian and his investigative team found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide that year than non-veterans.

During the course of the investigation, the investigative team compiled a list of resources for how to find help and recognize the warning signs of mental health issues that could also be warning signs for suicide.

How to Spot Warning Signs

The Department of Veterans Affairs provides the following warning signs.

Talking about wanting to hurt or kill oneself

Trying to get pills, guns, or other ways to harm oneself

Talking or writing about death, dying, or suicide

Hopelessness

Rage, uncontrolled anger, seeking revenge

Acting in a reckless or risky way

Feeling trapped, like there's no way out

Saying or feeling there's no reason for living

For more on mental health services at the Dept of Veterans Affairs, click here or call the VA's suicide hotline at 800.273.TALK (8255).

Suicide Signs Unique to Vets

Experts on suicide prevention say for veterans there are some particular signs to watch for.

Calling old friends, particularly military friends, to say goodbye

Cleaning a weapon that they may have as a souvenir

Visits to graveyards

Obsessed with news coverage of the war, the military channel

Wearing their uniform or part of their uniform, boots, etc

Talking about how honorable it is to be a soldier

Sleeping more (sometimes the decision to commit suicide brings a sense of peace of mind, and they sleep more to withdraw)

Becoming overprotective of children

Standing guard of the house, perhaps while everyone is asleep staying up to "watch over" the house, obsessively locking doors, windows

If they are on medication, stopping medication and/or hording medication

Hording alcohol -- not necessarily hard alcohol, could be wine

Spending spree, buying gifts for family members and friends "to remember by"

Defensive speech "you wouldn't understand," etc.

Stop making eye contact or speaking with others

For a wallet-size card titled "What to do you if you think someone is having suicidal thoughts," click here.

Where to Get Help

Hotline for Veterans
Veterans who need help immediate counseling should call the hotline run by Veterans Affairs professionals at 1-800-273-TALK and press 1 identifying themselves as military veterans. Staff members are specially trained to take calls from military veterans and its staffed 24 hours a day, everyday. While all operators are trained to help veterans, some are also former military.

Clinical Care
To find the closest Dept of Veterans Affairs facility to you that has mental health professionals, go to this Web site and type in your zip code.

Veterans Affairs Health Benefits

Read more about what benefits are available to veterans.

To find out more about what kind of services returning service members qualify for, check out this summary at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?

According to the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, "PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can occur after you have been through a traumatic event. A traumatic event is something horrible and scary that you see or that happens to you. During this type of event, you think that your life or others' lives are in danger. You may feel afraid or feel that you have no control over what is happening."

Those who have experienced a life-threatening event can develop PTSD. These can include:

Combat or military exposure

Child sexual or physical abuse

Terrorist attacks

Sexual or physical assault

Serious accidents, such as a car wreck.

Natural disasters, such as a fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, or earthquake.

For those who have PTSD, there are generally four types of symptoms:

Reliving the event

Avoiding situations that remind you of the event

Feeling numb

Feeling keyed up -- on alert and on the lookout for danger

The National Center for PTSD offers this information in a tipsheet, and notes: "after the event, you may feel scared, confused, and angry. If these feelings don't go away or they get worse, you may have PTSD. These symptoms may disrupt your life, making it hard to continue with your daily activities."

Related Links

• The National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress, special center within Veterans Affairs, has more information.

• Click here for resources for U.S. service members returning from deployment.

• Click here for help for veterans with PTSD.

Air Force Suicide Prevention Program

• Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine
410.671.4656

• Navy Environmental Health Center's Suicide Prevention site
757.953.0959

• Marine Corps Suicide Prevention Program

• National Center for PTSD
802.296.6300

• Suicide Prevention Action Network USA
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

• Nonprofit group Give An Hour

• SAMHSA's National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
800.273.8255
TTY: 800.799.4889
Recent Legislation to Prevent Veteran Suicide

On November 6, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act. It's named after a soldier who committed suicide in Grundy County, Iowa, in December 2005, after serving an 11-month tour in Iraq. The bill requires the Department of Veteran's Affairs to meet deadlines in providing the following services:

Train VA staff on suicide prevention and mental health care

Staff each VA medical facility with a suicide prevention counselor

Screen soldiers who seek care through the VA for mental health needs

Support outreach and education for veterans and their families

Research the most effective strategies for suicide prevention

Create a peer support counseling program so veterans can help other veterans

However, while the bill requires the VA to provide these services, it provides no new funding.

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By Laura Strickler with reporting from Sarah Fitzpatrick in Washington.

[gonner2]

i am a veteran of the vietnam era. I have been fighting for my service connected disability since 1999. i was in a serious car accident as a passenger and lost my memory and have severe headaches all the time. i go to the va shrink and to a va clinic they give me pill but it makes me a zombie i hate my life and i go driving not knowing or caring if something happen if i run into a truck . or if i take my gun out wondering if this is the day i been fighting for so long and im about done fighting.i go back to the va pension board or doctors at john cochran 15 nov to find out and give all the information again but i have only one problem i cant remember my childhood or my past i have days trying to remember my kids and grandkids. im not sorry i served my country but im sorry that it says in my medical records of a accident they had to have mp records they gave me non service connected and then put me on social security. i have trouble getting out of bed afraid of hurting someone else. i go to the drs. but if you say the wrong thing they will put me in a lockup all i want is what i earned as a veteran . i would love to know who i was what am i now im scared not knowing what to think or do . getting my gun out just becaureyour family wants you to remember things and i just agree like i know what there talking about. why do veterans have to fight so hard if it was not a veteran they are getting better healthcare i struggle on 673

[sosadsis]

My brother,a decorated vietman vet shot himself in 2001 after struggling with emotional instability for years.He was never the same upon his return from his tour.At his memorial service his other war vet friends openly talked about often struggling with suicidal thoughts.One said that every time another vet takes his life he feels his slope gets more slippery.This problem is not new.Keep attention on these heros that are too quickly forgotten by the gov''t.The gov''t does not want to deal with this hot issue.Focusing on it will FORCE THEM TO DEAL WITH IT.These vets and those they leave behind deserve more.My heart aches for my brother everyday.I miss you.

[chaslocklin]

First Off, the VA is under funded and has little resources to care for the high needs of Veterans. It does a good job with what it has. Secondly, I wonder how many of the Veterans were National Guard and or Reserves. No one is prepared for a life of WAR and the stress that goes with a war time environment, however, the active force is far better prepared to cope with the stress of war since it trains daily at it profession. The Reserves may be the next best to cope, but the National Guard is not prepared to cope with the stress of war. The vietnam veteran can tell you all about the unseen enemy, non support from the populace, and faulty equipment, but the iraq veteran has to add the additional factors of todays technology, an area of unfriendly populace, and a culture that considers death a reward to its list. Take the average citizen and put him/her in the iraq situation and it requires a great deal of endurance that has never been experienced by the average citizen to surface to fight off the stress imposed by war and once having completed a tour to return to an environment of political greed as opposed to mental and physical stress can be a point of complete unworthyness as to why they faced both situations. Just ask yourself how many people have you seen die in the past month and then ask a returning iraq veteran or a vietnam veteran from a combat unit. You might be surprised at their answer. God Bless America and God Bless the Veteran. God help the Politician. Amen

[jenna2109]

The VA just started a National Suicide hotline this July for the Vets. Once a vet calls, they hook up the vet with a suicide prevention coordinator in their area to link them up with services. However, the VA can''t force anyone to get help, so if the vet doesn''t want it, what can the VA do?

[miller9951]

My brother was a Green Beret in Vietnam. I have papers diagnosing him with PTSD back in 1976. He moved to Florida 6 years ago and I took him to the local VA to get him signed up for his meds. They REFUSED him!! Needless to say..He shot and killed himself last year. In his note he left he said he wanted to be remembered as the decorated war veteran he was. God Bless you Dan and for all the vets for all they have done and are currently doing for us!!!!!! God Bless America

[cffdrnkr]

The vets are told that they have to appeal to get help. This is something that most vets don''t understand. I got hurt on active duty, so why do I have to prove it, you have my records? Most vets just got back from fighting, it ain''t worth fighting your own government for what they are suppose to take care of. If you don''t look disabled, that''s to bad, the VA will only take care of the ones that lost an arm or leg or have a purple heart. All others...that''s to bad.

[arlene_banks]

I watched this news with no amazement of this epidemic, but was amazed there seemed to be so much concern as to why the VA had not done surveys and researched the suicide rates. Here''s a news flash...They don''t have the money! Us veterans are in a near hopeless position for the care we have earned. The cost of war is high. The budget for VA health care has NEVER come to the standards it needs to be. The budget is passed...the VA does the best it can with what it gets and that is never enough. If you want to do a story that actually would help the VA and all of us veterans, ask our politicians why they will not approve mandatory funding for the VA. Ask them why they prefer to give us "percentage" increase reports rather than factual dollars asked for and factual dollars approved. Was our service so insignificant that the budget to take care of us is "dicrestionary" and we can do nothing but accept it? The VA does have it''s faults, but the majority of those faults lie at the feet of our politicians.

[bmason004]

My name is Beth and my husband Bill took his own life after being in operation desert shield and storm. He left behind a wife and a 4year old son. He was a wonderful husband and father but he was just not the same after he returned fronm there. I hope the goverment finally does something to help these men and woman. I have been to the VA and they haven''t done anything to help us before or after my husbands death. thank you

[tomsis-2009]

my brother was vet of the 1st desert storm and he was never the same. and he took his own life. i think it''s about time they really took a good look at the suicide rate of our service men and women. god bless america and my brother!

[litzkowitz]

Your viewers would benefit from knowing about our organization, Give an Hour. www.giveanhour.org We are a national network of mental health professionals offering free counseling to returning troops and their loved ones. Currently have 800 providers across the country.