Suicide Prevention: Civilians vs Military

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:23:20 -0400

I coordinated with SSG Burns on this topic *SHOUT OUT*!
Our Company Commader sent us a slide show that states Military members have a higher rate of suicide compared to our civilian counterparts. Is it a fair comparison since most military members are in a profession that requires much more stress? Military members are only less than 1% of the population, so of course our rates look much higher than that of civilians.
Is it a fair comparison?
I hope you like my topic!

(I tried to add the slide, I'm not sure how to do it)

Very Respectfully,

SPC Michel

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 16 at 2014 11:39 AM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:39:40 -0400

Having served 30 years on active duty, and now eight-plus years as a DA civilian, I can tell you that being a civilian is MUCH less stressful than being a Soldier. The difference, in my opinion, is like night and day, so - no, it's not a fair comparison. More and special attention needs to be paid to the military personnel in this regard, again, in my humble opinion.

Response by SGT Ben Keen made Sep 16 at 2014 11:51 AM

SGT Ben Keen — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:51:01 -0400

I have to disagree with CW5 Private RallyPoint Member and SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member; being a civilian doesn't mean you face less stress. You simply face different stresses. Sure you aren't getting shot at and things like that but the stress you face as a civilian can be just as high. Trying to find a job, trying to find your footing in a company, learning to live with your family, and so much more all add stress to you.

Now to the question of is the comparison between suicides rates between those serving in the military and civilians is fair, well it depends on how you rank the numbers. Are you saying percentages, raw numbers, or some thing else? While yes, the total population of service members is highly outnumbered by civilians, the numbers in both groups is way to high.

Response by SFC Dr. Joseph Finck, BS, MA, DSS made Sep 19 at 2014 9:08 AM

SFC Dr. Joseph Finck, BS, MA, DSS — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 09:08:36 -0400

SPC Michel,

Thank you for this post. I would be interested in examining empyrical data on this topic, but my "un-informed" response is there are a number of factors which contribute.

1) Stress is certainly a factor, but how do we internalize leaving a combat environment where we are in an important and relied upon position to come back to a garrison environment where we may be relegated to "normal" unit, company, BN, BDE, or other activities? I find this to be quite interesting as I know in my case, I returned from deployment where I was a Detachment 1SG and returned to be relegated to an assignment that was not only removed from leadership but from my primary CMF. I had issues.

2) We expect more from ourselves as servicemembers. That may be an issue, when we start to feel overwhelmned, depressed, or stressed. Consequently, we may not share our feelings with others on an as needed basis or express the level of issue we are facing.

3) Stress is not only for the military. There are many high stress occupations. This is the one where we face different and virtually deadly stress for long periods of time. Law enforcement and firefighters face similar stress and as a law enforcement officer, I know the suicide rate is elevated as well.

4) How does the slide show define civilian counterparts? To be a research comparison you would need a test group and a control group. If the test group of civilians were not deployed in combat, I am unsure how this could be a fair comparison. (I recognize the original point is that the suicide rate for military is higher than civilians, but I wanted to make the point that we may be comparing apples to tree limbs.)

5) Servicemembers are probably still less likely to seek help than others due to the culture of the military. We all want to be tough, silent, "Chuck Norris or John Wayne" like and impervious to what we experience. Internally, we have to overcome that. THANK YOU for positing this as everytime we discuss it, we reduce the "elephant in the room" syndrome.

Be well at Fort Jackson, SC.

SFC Joseph M. Finck USA (Ret)

Response by SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA made Apr 19 at 2015 2:50 PM

SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 14:50:08 -0400

I haven't deployed and thus haven't experienced that stress, so take this for what it's worth.

The stress of college and working to pay for it with no loans or financial assistance and getting married halfway through college was much greater than the stress of OSUT or anything since then.

Response by PO3 Nicholas Bennett made Jun 19 at 2020 11:52 PM

PO3 Nicholas Bennett — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 23:52:13 -0400

I would say it is a fair comparison. Stigma has a lot to do with the situation. Leave it to military to look at the situation too logically.
Just because you're being shot at and it can result in death does not mean civilian counterparts don't go through something just as intense. I deal with people on a daily basis who I have no idea if they are carrying a gun, in the battlefield you know pretty much who your enemy is shooting at you, but joe shmoe down the block could be anyone I deal with on a daily basis. Some of the sites I work at, I can't have my duty weapon, luckily enough I'm confident enough in my training to be able to handle myself if a situation cannot be de-escilated or avoided.

Basically my weigh-in is this, yes military may have a much higher rate, but that's because it's believe to be a norm that feeds into itself unfortunately. Kind of what you'd call a self-fulfilling prophecy.