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October 31, 2008
Army to collaborate with NIMH to study causes of suicide
The New York Times (10/30, A18, Alvarez) reports, "Conceding it needed outside help in figuring out why the suicide rate among service members was rising, the Army announced plans on Wednesday to collaborate with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in an ambitious five-year project to identify the causes and risk factors of suicide."
The Army plans to "make thousands of soldiers available to researchers for interviews, and will provide access to its many databases, including those with medical, personnel, criminal, and deployment histories. Researchers will draw from a cross section of the Army, and will include soldiers who have just joined the service, or are training for war, and those who have returned from war."
Times notes that "suicides in the Army have been climbing since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2007, 115 soldiers killed themselves, a rate of 18.1 per 100,000 people." Data indicate that "the pace of suicides by soldiers in 2008 could eclipse last year's."
Related Links:
- "Army and Agency Will Study Rising Suicide Rate Among Soldiers," Lizette Alvarez, New York Times, October 30, 2008.
Posted by admin at October 31, 2008 02:13 PM