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| CBS: 'Stunning' veteran suicide rate is twice that of non-veterans |
| 2007-11-15 |
| The problem of suicide among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has recently been in the news, with the Department of Veteran Affairs promising to beef up its mental health services in response. Veterans of previous conflicts continue to have problems as well, and the VA has estimated that a total of 5000 suicides among veterans can be expected this year. However, CBS News has now completed a five-month study of death records for 2004-05 which shows that the actual figures are "much higher" than those reported by the VA. Across the total US veteran population of 25 million, CBS found that suicide rates were more than twice as high as for non-veterans (according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide accounted for 32,439 deaths in 2004). CBS spoke to the families of several veterans who killed themselves after returning from Iraq. "The war didn't end for him when he came home," said the mother of one soldier. "I think he was being tormented and tortured by his experiences." Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) told CBS, "That's a lot of young men and women who've gone to fight for us who've come home and found themselves that lost." |
| Posted by:Delphi |
| #11 Army Releases Suicide Data, Promotes Prevention Programs Aug. 16, 2007 – Though its number of suicides increased in 2006, the Army’s suicide rate still is lower than the rate for the same age and gender group in the overall U.S. population, according to a report the service released today. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-11-15 16:18 |
| #10 basically males commit suicide at about 4 times the rate of females thus comparing the suicide rate amongst veterans (who are between 80-95% male) to non veterans of both genders is statistical malpractice |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-11-15 15:43 |
| #9 Thanks for the link Darrell - only had a few moments before lunch and entered my standard made fill-in-blank contest to a publicized stat story. Jack is Back! has a good link also. It is a serious issue well known to those directly involved with/related to troops - crap stat stories like this are not made to help but to attract readers IMO. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2007-11-15 14:27 |
| #8 Its BS and has already been debunked. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-11-15 13:51 |
| #7 Bobby, just telling him you don't even have a clue how to express it will suffice. I have a friend who lost a son and harbored a grudge for years with another coworker who never even mentioned it afterwards. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-11-15 13:12 |
| #6 swksvolFF, visit the link I posted (#3) and you'll see EXACTLY how CBS produced this statistical scam. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-11-15 13:09 |
| #5 What about the MSM contribution to the trend? They certainly ain't helping morale! On a sadder note, my next door neighbor is a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserve, and lost his son last year to suicide, after he returned from Afghanistan. I don't even have a clue how to express my sorrow. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-11-15 13:02 |
| #4 Vets from what wars, what age, a detail please. How did they come up with the trend line? What was the amount last year? How far back in years are the stats taken? Was the 25 million subtracted from the total population when comparing to national? Stats and Polls are crap. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2007-11-15 12:40 |
| #3 LIES! DAMNED LIES! It's another example of "How to Lie with Statistics". Details here: http://www.bloggernews.net/111684 |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-11-15 12:09 |
| #2 This article smells. A year or two ago, suicide rates of Iraq veterans were trumped up by the press. It was finally determined that Iraq vets had a lower suicide rate than the national average once gender and age were taken into account |
| Posted by: ed 2007-11-15 12:03 |
| #1 This story, despite coming from CBS News, does not sound totally implausible to me. And if something can be done to help, then it should. That said, given that it comes from CBS News, I question whether the statistics are actually being interpreted honestly - are the comparison samples properly controlled for other variables, like sex, age, geographic origin, etc? (Aside: my cousin was a Vietnam vet, and committed suicide, but given other circumstances of his life, predating his service, I doubt the two had anything to do with each other.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-11-15 11:55 |