Suicide Argument Analysis

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs, otherwise known as the VA, handles health care of thousands of veterans. This includes veterans in an emergency, such as feeling suicidal. Cheryl Pellerin, a reporter and science writer at the American Forces Press Service, argues based on what the undersecretary of health at the VA, Dr. Robert Petzel, reports of the VA’s progress in suicide prevention. However, Pellerin’s argument is incomplete and thus invalid. In her argument “The Department of Veterans Affairs Is Making Progress in Suicide Prevention”, Pellerin states, as reported by Petzel, that among younger veterans who use their services, 18 to 29 years old, the VA has reduced suicide rates. This statement doesn’t specify what the rates

Petzel says alone. Stating that the VA has “increased the number of programs, people, and resources that [their] devoting to veterans’ mental health services” to satisfy the demand of the 1.5 million veterans the VA cares for. Pellerin fails to include how these efforts are faring in their use. She doesn't include what veterans and their families have to say concerning the efforts of the VA, and not every veteran and family would concur that adding more programs means helping more veterans.In the second part of her argument, subtitled “VA has Developed a New PTSD Therapy”, Pellerin explains the VA’s new therapy for PTSD. The strategy is thought to help veterans with PTSD by exposing them to their triggers so they become comfortable with them, weakening the trigger response, and therefore helping to lessen the PTSD. Here, Pellerin is applying the evidence that the VA has proposed a new treatment to say they are making progress in suicide prevention efforts as PTSD is a contributing factor in why veterans commit suicide. However, Pellerin’s argument lacks any data on how effective the new treatment is, or what users of the treatment have to report regarding its advantages versus its