Preventing Suicide: A Mission Too Big to Fail

Abstract

Suicides in the U.S. military are at record highs. Senior leaders have taken a number of important steps to stem the rise in suicides, but they acknowledge it is a complex problem that requires a comprehensive approach. This Strategy Research Project provides a brief overview and history of the various studies that have been aimed at suicide prevention, details the U.S. Army War College's (USAWC) suicide prevention exercise and findings related to policy and prevention efforts, reviews additional research aimed at prevention, and explores recommendations on moving forward to create a comprehensive prevention strategy. USAWC students identified gaps in policies and programs, as well as an overall lack of national understanding of the root causes of suicide. The authors of this paper recommend that DoD adopt a strategic approach which focuses suicide prevention across four major Lines of Effort (LOEs): leadership, resiliency, belongingness, and policy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA589340

Entities

People

  • Gloria Duck
  • Jennifer Jessup
  • Keith Lostroh
  • Robert Walter
  • Timothy Holman

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Brain Injuries
  • Doctrine
  • Employment
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Education
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Science
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Social Media
  • Students
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Strategic Security Studies