Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. I haven't reviewed the latest, but I do think there's been a small increase in both the army's suicide rates and in the veterans. I'd have to double-check that. The important thing is that the number of suicides is quite small, so it's hard to have a significant change, bu

Veterans Affairs committee  I will look into it and get back to you.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. I think the area that the operational stress injury clinics have done a really great job in is to increase the availability of PTSD-related treatments as well as other emotion-regulation skills. More recently, in the last few years, there's been an emphasis on cognitive beha

Veterans Affairs committee  I think there's usually a suicide attempt before, and often there's suffering for a period before someone attempts. Sometimes, if there's alcohol involved, there can be impulsive events. The strongest evidence around suicide prevention is around restricting lethal means—for examp

Veterans Affairs committee  We have discussed this quite a bit. Right now the field says there is no reliable measure or screening process. Again, it's such a common...mental health problems, if you look across 25% of the population, if you started screening people out, there wouldn't be enough people for t

Veterans Affairs committee  I think right now there is no screening process that is suggested around the world, that I'm aware of, to say people aren't eligible to be part of the military, unless they have a very serious psychotic illness; that's the only thing that I think would be a problem.

Veterans Affairs committee  I can address that. I haven't looked recently at the other countries concerning suicide rates. I know that in the U.S., suicide rates have been going up in the military, and there has been quite a bit of concern, but I don't have an answer for you about other countries. I can loo

Veterans Affairs committee  Those studies we haven't done. This is a very important area, and going back to the previous question around the ethics and the impact of that on families, it's a huge piece. We haven't gone into that area. I'm not sure if the other researchers have. That is a very important po

Veterans Affairs committee  I would echo those comments. The transition period is really, as was said by the speakers, the important phase for the member to figure out their identity. They come from the military system, where they have access to a range of services. Trying to bridge that gap is really impor

Veterans Affairs committee  I think one of the key things that is really important is that the research comes from the people. The other presenters talked about qualitative work with people. The ideas really come for me, as a clinician, from sitting with patients and families, and understanding what they're

Veterans Affairs committee  Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to thank everyone for inviting me to speak and be a witness to the committee. I also appreciate the presentation from Dr. Bélanger and CIMVHR. I think many of the points that were raised are very similar to the things I'm going to say, and I'll

Veterans Affairs committee  This is in a paper our group presented. At this time, I think there is some evidence that people who were exposed to physical and sexual abuse when they were young were at increased risk of mental health problems. Childhood abuse plus deployment and combat exposure had an additiv

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. I am treating some veterans currently who have served in the Bosnia experience. I think the previous survey that was done in 1995 looked at that issue. I agree with you that before Afghanistan and before Rwanda and before Bosnia, with most of the pea