By Bob Brewin bbrewin@govexec.com
May 6, 2008
Suicides by veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could well top the combat deaths in the two conflicts, according to the top official of National Institute of Mental Health.
On Monday, Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, told reporters at an annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington that it was possible that "suicides and psychiatric mortality...could trump combat deaths." Insel said he based this assessment in part on figures from a recent RAND Corp. study as well as suicide rates for patients who have substance abuse problems and other complications of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of combat.
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