More Killing Experience in War Means More Suicidal Thoughts

Variations in combat experience may be reflected later in suicidal thinking among veterans, according to Shira Maguen, Ph.D., of the San Francisco VA Medical Center, and colleagues. In their online report on Vietnam War veterans in the journal Depression and Anxiety, the researchers found that veterans with more killing experiences in the war were twice as likely to report suicidal ideation than were veterans with little or no such experience. Those with greater killing experiences who were also diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, or substance use disorders had even higher likelihood of experiencing suicidal ideation.

Understanding the factors that underlie suicidality might help save lives. For the last two years, the U.S. Armed Forces have lost more troops to suicide than to combat. “Killing experiences are not routinely examined when assessing suicide risk,” wrote Maguen and colleagues. “Our findings have important implications for conducting suicide risk assessments in veterans of war.”

To read much more about suicidality among war veterans, see Psychiatric News here. To learn the latest clinical and research findings on treating posttraumatic stress disorder, see Clinical Manual for Management of PTSD from American Psychiatric Publishing.

(Image: Tim Kornoelje/Shutterstock.com)

Psychiatrist Makes Surprising—and Dangerous—Career Change

Age barriers have fallen in several areas in recent years, but some realms remain stubbornly the province of the young—or do they? One psychiatrist has taken a dramatic step to defuse the myth that the military is one of those areas where only the young are welcome to join. Rebecca Tomsyck, M.D., was in private practice in Charlotte, N.C., when at age 53 she decided to join the U.S. Army. She said she felt a call to serve her country, plus her husband expressed a desire to live overseas. She worked out an agreement with the Army to enter at the rank of lieutenant colonel and be assigned to a post in Germany. In 2007 she was sent to Iraq where she worked with a combat stress unit. In 2010, she was assigned to an Air Force base in Afghanistan where she treated mental health problems in service members from all branches. Then, last summer, now a full colonel, Tomsyck was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in Afghanistan.

To read much more about Tomsyck's mid-life career shift and her experiences in both Iraq and Afghanistan, see Psychiatric News.

(Photo: Rebecca Tomsyck, M.D.)