Calls To Veterans' Suicide Hotline Double

New VA Phone Line, Created Last July, Now Taking 250 Calls Per Day

(CBS/AP)  More than 22,000 veterans have sought help from a special suicide hotline in its first year, and 1,221 suicides have been averted, the government says.

According to a recent RAND Corp. study, roughly one in five soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan displays symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, putting them at a higher risk for suicide. Researchers at Portland State University found that male veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide than men who are not veterans.

This month, a former Army medic, Joseph Dwyer, who was shown in a Military Times photograph running through a battle zone carrying an Iraqi boy, died of an accidental overdose after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder for almost five years.

Janet Kemp, national suicide prevention coordinator for the Veterans Affairs Department, said the hotline is in place to help prevent deaths such as Dwyer's. "We just want them to know there's other options and people do care about them, and we can help them make a difference in their lives," she said in an interview.

The VA teamed up with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to launch the hotline last July after years of criticism that the VA wasn't doing enough to help wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In April, two veterans groups sued the VA, citing long delays for processing applications and other problems in treatment for veterans at risk for suicide. The department has spent $2.9 million on the hotline thus far.

The hotline receives up to 250 calls per day - double the average number calling when it began. Kemp said callers are divided evenly between veterans from the Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam wars. Richard McKeon, public health adviser for SAMHSA, said 10 to 20 of the 1,575 calls received each week have to be rerouted to high-volume backup call centers throughout the country.

The VA estimates that every year 6,500 veterans take their own lives. The mental health director for the VA, Ira Katz, said in an e-mail last December that of the 18 veterans who commit suicide each day, four to five of them are under VA care, and 12,000 veterans under VA care are attempting suicide each year.

This month, the hotline began an advertising campaign in Washington area subway stations and buses featuring the slogan, "It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help."

The veterans hotline, which is linked to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, received 55,000 callers in its first year, including both veterans and people who are concerned about them, according to figures being released Monday. One-third of the 40 specially trained counselors are veterans themselves.

"We try to get them (callers) to talk about their situation and what they remember and see if they can identify exactly what their issues are. I think there's a comfort in knowing that they can get some help from people who do understand what combat stress is like," Kemp said.

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Members of Congress heard testimony in early May from VA officials - following CBS News reports that the department tried to cover up an epidemic of suicide among veterans. Click here to read Armen Keteyian's report.

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From the call center, counselors instantly can check a veteran's medical records and then connect the caller to local VA suicide prevention coordinators for follow-up, monitoring and care at local VA medical centers. Kemp said that since the hotline started, 106 veterans have been steered to free medical care from the VA.

Kemp said the hotline was put in place specifically for those veterans who don't get enough help until it's too late. "They have indicated to us that they are in extreme danger, either they have guns in their hand or they're standing on a bridge, or they've already swallowed pills," she said. Kemp said 1,221 veterans who were in such situations were rescued during the hotline's first year.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, an increasing number of troops have been turning to medication to deal with the stress of battle. Each year, between 20 and 40 soldiers are evacuated from war zones for mental problems brought on by combat, reported CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin, and many more stay in the battle with the help of medication.

A recent survey found 12 percent of soldiers in Iraq reported taking either anti-depressants or sleeping pills. That works out to about 19,000 soldiers, half of them using anti-depressants.

The VA is preparing for the eventual return of a large number of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. This could put added stress on the mental health screening program for returning veterans, which could lead to a rise in undiagnosed mental health issues. The VA recently got enough money to double its suicide prevention staff and is planning to hire 212 more people soon.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day by calling 800-273-TALK (8255); veterans should press "1" after being connected.

[Dragonwolfe1]

they say this war will end they say all the wars will let us come home this is not the truth we never truly come back I worked so hard to help others when I came back cause it felt good to fix ppl so they would not be broken I helped adults and Teens but some where in it all I lost me and now no matter how hard I try I never seem to come out on top My parents dont want to know cause then they would have to admit some one in there family might be broke ...the Va doctors say they can fix you but no mater what I try I still find my se;f in the same place I did come back from the Coventional wars we had but now I am lost in a war in a place where No troops can come get me in my own personel hell and there is no coming back from here ...maybe it time to just fade in to the past of nothing I to old for anyone to care and to hurt for anyone to fix

[missingamerica]

The truly nasty side is that, by extending soldiers and marines past their ETS date with "stop lossing" while chickenhawks and neocons sit at home fanning the flames, service to our country has effectively been transformed into a prison sentence - one with even fewer visits from family members than even homicidal maniacs are entitled to.

How many of our soldiers and marines are now becoming bitter as they consider their incarceration amidst the ever mounting evidence that Iraq was all just a monstrous lie?

[wardoglrs]

Why are you all yelling at each other? for blaming Demo''s and Repub''s this Blaming Thing is your fault yours ... YEA YOU...You voted them in you didn''t listen to the Constitution and Hold them to it.. NO Its'' not them IT''s YOU THE VOTER who refused to think about your Nation and it''s future Instead you only thought of yourselves...IT''S YOU THE VOTER who wouldn''t look at there record and see the danger like what Obama signed on to the FISA bill.. Now your 4th Amendment right is gone BUT Hey no biggie its just a piece of paper...
No Change here... NEXT DICTATOR PLEASE!!!!!

[missingamerica]

WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT? MORE THAN ONE TOUR, MORE THAN TWO TOURS AND THEN EXTENDING YOUR TOUR BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH TROOPS TO SUPPORT THIS WAR. Human beings are not some machine you can have do what ever you want, when ever you want it. BRING OUR TROOPS HOME TODAY!!!!

Posted by MIpapaof4 at 03:35 PM : Jul 28, 2008

Just because your sentiments - particularly as to cause and effect - are accurate, MIpapaof4....

[denn034]

The high prices are stressful for some veterans. There''s also the new influx of Iraqi Freedom veterans that factor into the increase as well.

[ethomas1965-2009]

Posted by zoe2006 at 03:44 PM : Jul 28, 2008

You are an idiot. You probably don''t have the courage to walk a mile in boots. I have earned the right to speak my mind and clinton is an idiot just like all of you stinking communist democrats why don''t all of you do the biggest service to the US and commit suicide yourselves.

[xxunknown]

I am so sorry that the U.S government has caused so much grief and anguish. They send the poor off to die in their war. They do not care for them (adequately) if they return. Death, death death. Hail King George, you rotten ***.

[MIpapaof4]

WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT? MORE THAN ONE TOUR, MORE THAN TWO TOURS AND THEN EXTENDING YOUR TOUR BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH TROOPS TO SUPPORT THIS WAR. Human beings are not some machine you can have do what ever you want, when ever you want it. BRING OUR TROOPS HOME TODAY!!!!

[ethomas1965-2009]

I am guessing that everyone has forgotten why the military is in the shape it is in. Did we forget which administration cut the forces in half and tripled our deployment rate to every third world country for what? That same president that did this to our nation was also the same one that opened the door for the gay community then forbid them to mention that they are gay. Who remembers Don''t Ask, Don''t Tell? Yes that is right. President clinton himself. I was there I know what it was like to be deployed 6-9 months a year and then spend the rest of the time training up to go back into harms way. I bet no one else remembers who had the oppurtunity to have Bin Laden and said No, yes the same president. I do not vote party, I vote for candidate. I do the research and read how they have voted during their times in congress and senate. I also take notice to those who abstained from voting. This year I think I will vote: None of the Above...

[armydog2]

Many Democrats in the House and Senate are pushing for Assured Funding for the VA. Bush and mccain and the republicans are against it. Not enough bi-partisan support to get it thru either house. Right there is the problem, there are so many Veterans of these wars who need help and there actually is not enough funding for them.Just like the new GI Bill that had to be attached to another bill to pass. bush and mccain were against it. Not to mention the fact that the Military itself has placed such a stigma on any Soldier or Marine seeking help for PTSD or TBI"s.