Suicide Among Veterans

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A growing sense of concern among people about veterans is their mental health, concern has only been going up since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (Finley 1). With every mental health concern there is a chance that the person suffering from the disorder in this case the PTSD also face other health problems. Some veterans feel that they cannot deal with the PTSD that they’re suffering from, and if they’re not getting the proper help that they need to get better, the veteran can turn to unhealthy vices to help them cope with the PTSD. Some veterans turn to alcohol and drugs to help them cope, and in doing so they become addicted to these substances and they end up slowly ruining their lives because, they have become addicted to these substances …show more content…

Drug and alcohol abuse can lead to suicide among veterans. Since 2013 there has been a significant drop in suicide rates among current military personnel, but there is no evidence to a drop in rates being among veterans. The current problem therefore is the suicide from the veterans who have served their time. All war veterans are the chance to getting PTSD and have an increase chance in committing suicide the chance that a war veteran might commit suicide is higher in those who suffer PTSD over those who are not suffering from it (Hendin 2). These situations when the veteran feels that the only help that they can get is from doing drugs, drinking alcohol, or by committing suicide are the reasons that reintegration programs are needed in the service. If mandated programs were put into place, the rates of veterans becoming addicted to drugs, or alcohol, or committing suicide could decrease because the programs would give the veterans a support group to help them with their problems, that way these people suffering from PTSD don’t feel that they are all on their own with no one to help

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