Understanding Suicide Among Military Service Members and Veterans: Risk and Protective Factors, Theory, and Intervention

Abstract

Enormous resources have been devoted to preventing suicides among military service members and veterans, but the problem has persisted despite both research and clinical efforts to understand root causes and develop effective intervention approaches. While the suicide rate among general population U.S. adults has increased in the first decades of the twenty-first century, rates for veterans and military service members have increased even more sharply. From a direct practice perspective, there is an urgent need to synthesize existing empirical knowledge and apply it to clinical practice contexts to identify and intervene with those at risk for suicide. Bridging the knowledge-practice gap is particularly important for clinicians working with military veterans and Service Members, whether in active duty, Reserve, or National Guard components. The aims of this chapter are to (a) describe the scope of the problem of suicide among military veterans and Service Members; (b) examine risk and protective factors identified in the literature; (c) identify areas that require additional investigation and clarification, and (d) review clinical practice guidelines and offer recommendations for applying empirical knowledge about suicide to inform clinical practice with military populations.