[acb-hsp] The Veteran Suicide Epidemic

[peter altschul]

The Veteran Suicide Epidemic
  Rae Abileah, Alterationet June 13, 2012
  As the sun set on June 9th nearly 2,000 walkers in the American 
Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Out of the Darkness Overnight 
Walk off down the grassy path toward the Golden Gate Bridge along 
the promenade that hugs the bay.  The view was not only stunning 
but also poignant: as the famous Golden Gate celebrated its 75th 
birthday earlier this month, San Franciscans also mourned the 
loss of the 1,500 people who have died by jumping over the edge.
  Last month I was riding BART to SF and read a statistic in 
stTIMEST: 18 veterans die by suicide every day -- thatbs one 
every 80 minutes.  As the subway pulled up to my stop, I saw a 
large poster advertising the Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk 
to break the silence about depression and suicide.  Then a couple 
of weeks laterstationewsweekst ran a feature story veteran 
suicide.
  For years I've been a "Bring Our Troops Home" banner waving 
leftist, attending anti-war marches and rallies more often than I 
ate ice cream.  So now that our troops are actually coming home 
from Iraq, many are killing themselves.  Why? To dig deeper into 
the question, I decided to join the Overnight, speak with fellow 
walkers, and do a little homework.
  Veteran Suicide -- A Predictable Epidemic?
  When Ryan Yurchison returned home from Iraq in 2007, his mom 
said he was a shell of a man, consumed with tremors, flashbacks 
and a steadily growing problem with drugs and alcohol.  While 
waiting for help from the V.A.  and placement in an addiction 
program, Yurchison died of a drug overdose believed to be suicide 
in May 2010.  The stationew York Timesst reported "For every 
soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans 
are dying by their own hands." Last year over 6,500 veteran 
suicides were recorded, which is "more than the total number of 
soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined since those wars 
began." Military suicide rates increased 150% from 2001 to 2009, 
according to an article in stUSA Today
  Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) started "Operation 
Recovery", a campaign to fight for the rights of service members 
and veterans to heal, and not be redeployed if experiencing 
PTSAID.  Too often, service members with Post-Traumatic Stress 
Disorder (PTSAID), military sexual assault, or combat stress, are 
forced to redeploy rather than receiving the support they so 
desperately need.
  It's clear that there's a correlation between sending soldiers 
off to a warzone, asking them to do the unthinkable and 
dehumanize the alleged "enemy," and the PTSAID that so often 
follows deployment.  Not only should soldiers receive the care 
they need, but also those who redeploy traumatized soldiers -- 
and the elected officials who created these monstrous and 
unnecessary wars -- should be held accountable.  As Nicholas 
Kristof wrote in his op-ed earlier this spring, "We refurbish 
tanks after time in combat, but don't much help men and women 
exorcise the demons of war.  Presidents commit troops to distant 
battlefields, but don't commit enough dollars to veterans' 
services afterward."
  ininBringing Daylight to a Taboo Topic *
  During the Overnight, I talked with veterans and military 
family members who were walking in memory of lost loved ones or 
as survivors themselves.  One young woman vet told me her story 
of the military sexual assault that led to PTSAID, which the 
military encouraged her to be silent about.  The Overnight helped 
inspire her to start an organization to help vets heal from 
trauma.  She carried a sign written with glow sticks: "Honoring 
Vets and Military Wst Suicidal Issues."
  Walkers turned the taboo of suicide into a proverbial tattoo.  
They wore t-shirts honoring lost loved ones with iron-on images 
and messages.  They proudly posted facebook status updates about 
their plans to walk that generated open discussions in 
cyberspace.  Fundraising emails solicited not only cash but also 
caring comments from friends who shared their own stories of 
suicidality or loss.  Numerous walkers described to me how the 
process of getting to the walk made them realize they were not 
alone in their loss or pain.  In fact, 37,000 people in the US 
die by suicide every year, making it the 10th leading cause of 
death, so most of us have loved ones who have either survived 
depression or escaped it through death.
  "You have raised more than $2.3 million dollars tonight!" AFSP 
Executive Director Robert Gebbia declared during the closing 
ceremony at dawn.  Each walker was required to raise $1,000, and 
clearly some went far beyond the minimum.
  After hearing about the Susan G.  Komen Foundation debacle with 
Planned Parenthood, and dubious reports about the Lance Armstrong 
Foundation, I was skeptical about where all this money would go.  
A sandwich board on the field at Fort Mason proclaimed, "AFSP's 
management and fundraising costs are only 15% of expenses, 85% 
goes to programs." So where is that 85% headed? Some goes to 
projects such as stM Than Sadst, which educates students about 
depression and teachers about suicide prevention.  Most of it 
goes into research grants.  A local AFSP board member explained 
to me that recently big pharmaceutical companies were prohibited 
by law from giving large sums of money to organizations such as 
AFSP.  Visibly absent were any Prozac swag, Zoloft promotions or 
other bio-psychiatric propaganda aimed at propping up the 
pharmaceutical industry.
  AFSP asserts that suicide can be prevented by "early 
recognition and treatment of depression and other psychiatric 
illnesses." And while this is crucial, a mental health advocate I 
contacted asserted a slightly different perspective, "It's not 
about preventing suicide; it's about giving people a reason to 
live." The scientific approach of diagnosing the illness and 
prescribing a pill doesn't do much for dealing with the root 
cause, which in the case of vets seems to be indisputably linked 
to the trauma of warfare.
  Ethan McCord, the Army specialist whose PTSAID, after seeing 
two bleeding children who died in a car bomb in Baghdad, became 
news in stTIMEST two years ago, said "The Army's attitude was, 
'Let's give this guy drugs and hope they work because we're 
overbooked and don't have time to deal with it." If they had 
understood what I was going through, I think all of this could 
have been avoided."
  When I was in college on the Columbia University campus there 
was a visible stigma around talking about suicide, so fellow 
classmates and I founded Students Against Silence, a group to 
speak out about mental health issues and create artistic events, 
poetry slams, and performances to name the elephant and start 
healing together.  Then I found the Icarus Project, a national 
project that seeks to re-envision the culture and language 
surrounding "mental illness." The Icarus Project released a flyer 
on suicide that seeks to reframe suicidal thoughts as an 
opportunity for transformation:
  "Sometimes wanting to kill yourself just means you don't want 
to live the life you're living.  You can change your life with 
that power.  What the hell -- you were about to lose your whole 
life.  Why not instead lose your school, job, pretenses, fears, 
adherence to society's standards, shame.  I have found some of my 
suicidal episodes to be strangely liberating in that way.  I 
wouldn't take back any of what made me who I am today."
  ininWhere Are Our National Priorities? *
  The Overnight walk led us through Pacific Heights, home to 
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Senator Diane Feinstein.  I 
couldn't help but wonder whether either of my elected leaders 
were aware of the walk, or the grave need to increase funding for 
mental health and veteran care.  In reality, Congress just 
dramatically increased military spending on war and occupation 
when they approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
  As dawn broke, and a half moon glistened over the mess of 
walkers who had crossed the finish line and were sprawled across 
the lawn at Fort Mason, the luminaries highlighting the names of 
lost loved ones were extinguished, but a new light shone brightly 
in the faces of the exhausted walkers.  The walk helped bring 
suicide out of the darkness and provide healing and hope for 
those who are suffering from loss or depression.
  The parting message at the Overnight closing ceremony came from 
a woman who has struggled with mental illness and depression.  
She said, "[I walk] for myself, for my family, and for countless 
people at the bottom of their abyss.  My voice can save lives." 
Let's hope that Congress hears her voice, and the myriad other 
voices clamoring for care, and a healthier society that values 
life-affirming activities, like real, holistic healthcare, and 
affordable education, over violence.
  Rae Abileah is the co-director of CODEPINK Women for Peace.  
She lives in Berkeley, CA, and can be reached at 
rae[at]codepinkddorg and at raeabileah.
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