Report: Veterans' Suicides Highest Among Those Ages 55 to 74

Concurrent mental health, drug problems

The report highlighted that the majority of veteran suicides occurred among those who have not “recently received” services within the Veterans Health Administration system. It noted that suicide rates among VHA patients were highest for those diagnosed with bipolar or opioid use disorder.

“Among veterans with recent VHA use who died by suicide in 2017, 58.7 percent had a diagnosed mental health or substance use disorder in 2016 or 2017,” it said.

Mission 22, a nonprofit organization that combats veteran suicide, said that those 50 and older may face more obstacles in getting help because of technology and urged the VA to bridge the gap.

“They [older veterans] might now know how to contact organizations like Mission 22 because they didn’t grow up in a computer age and all of the social media,” said Diane McCall, the group’s public relations director. “Having the VA help them apply or share information with veterans, especially older veterans, about groups like Mission 22 could be very helpful.”

Task force in the works

In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a cabinet-level task force that would “mobilize every level of American society” to address suicide among veterans.

The order gives representatives across the public and private sectors a year to develop a comprehensive national road map to lower the suicide rate, design a program for Congress to create grant opportunities in communities, and develop a national strategy to improve coordination of research in veteran suicide prevention.

Congress has already voiced bipartisan support for a program called Be Connected, based on the Arizona National Guard’s success in supporting and counseling veterans as well as training members of the community on warning signs of suicide.

Editor's note: This story, originally published Sept. 24, 2019, was updated Jan. 22, 2020, to reflect differences between suicide rates and incidents.