Risk Factors Associated With Attempted Suicide Among US Army Soldiers Without a History of Mental Health Diagnosis

Abstract

Suicide attempt risk among soldiers with unrecognized mental health problems is a significant and important challenge. Administrative records from personnel, medical, legal, and family services systems can assist in identifying soldiers at risk.

Adapting and implementing Caring Contacts in a Department of Veterans Affairs emergency department: a pilot study protocol

“…Suicide prevention efforts are usually prioritized in mental health treatment settings. However, about half of those who died by suicide in the USA had no known mental health condition [3], and similar results have been observed in military populations [4]. Focusing on non-mental health settings such as the emergency department thus broadens the scope of suicide prevention and also improves the reach of prevention efforts to a greater proportion of veterans [5], particularly rural veterans who are at greater risk for suicide and who may be less likely to come into a mental health clinic [6,7].…”

Sex Differences in US Army Suicide Attempts During the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

“…As our findings also highlight, it is important for future research to address the significant challenge of identifying and intervening with the 40% female and male soldiers who were never diagnosed before attempting suicide. 36 …”

Research Domain Criteria scores estimated through natural language processing are associated with risk for suicide and accidental death

“…Our results provide further support for the importance of negative valence, but also indicate the potential utility of further investigation of additional RDoC domains. More broadly, these results indicate the feasibility of characterizing these domains in nonpsychiatric populations; although prediction of risk in known psychiatric cohorts is also important, the majority of suicide attempts occur among individuals who recently sought contact with nonpsychiatrist caregivers (Luoma et al., ), and investigation of such cohorts has been less extensive (Ursano et al., ).…”

“…Despite extensive work on risk stratification, suicide risk assessment tools are in limited use, and those that are in use are supported by limited evidence (Runeson et al., ). Moreover, while numerous individual risk factors for suicide have been identified (Chung et al., ; Turecki & Brent, ), little of this work has occurred in nonpsychiatric populations (Ursano et al., ), even though more people see primary care doctors than psychiatrists in the month prior to suicide (Luoma, Martin, & Pearson, ).…”