Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide

Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention

Edited by Bruce Bongar, Glenn Sullivan, and Larry James

Includes the most up-to-date research on the problem of suicide within military and veteran populations
Highlights practical recommendations for those who work directly with suicidal patients
Presents different theories for evidence-based assessment, management, and treatment approaches

Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide

Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention

Edited by Bruce Bongar, Glenn Sullivan, and Larry James

Description

For the past decade, suicidal behavior in military and veteran populations has been a constant feature in the news and in the media, with suicide rates among active duty American military personnel reaching their highest level in almost three decades. Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide reviews the most advanced scientific understanding of the phenomenon of active duty and veteran suicide, while providing a useful, hands-on clinical guide for those working with this population.

This comprehensive Handbook covers all relevant topics and current research in suicide in military and veteran populations, including links between suicide and PTSD, the stigma of mental health treatment in the military, screening for firearms access in military and veteran populations, "subintentioned" suicide (e.g. reckless driving and other such "accidental" deaths), women in combat, and working with families. Chapters also cover suicide risk assessment, ethical issues in treating suicidal patients, evidence-based treatments for PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and managing suicide in older veterans. Significant issues that may arise in assessing and treating military and veteran populations who are at risk for suicide are presented and discussed with evidence-based and practical recommendations. This Handbook will benefit researchers, policy makers, and clinicians who work with active duty military and veteran populations.

Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide

Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention

Edited by Bruce Bongar, Glenn Sullivan, and Larry James

1. Introduction into Military Suicide
Elvin Sheykhani, Lori Holleran, Kasie Hummel, and Bruce Bongar

2. Why suicide?
Victoria Kendrick, Lori Holleran, David Hart, Dana Lockwood, Tracy Vargo, and Bruce Bongar

3. Suicide and the American military's experience in Iraq and Afghanistan
Joseph Tomlins, Whitney Bliss, Larry James, Bruce Bongar

4. Suicide in the Army National Guard: Findings, Interpretative Framework, and Implications for Intervention
James Griffith

5. Combat experience and the acquired capability for suicide
Craig J. Bryan, Tracy A. Clemans, and Ann Marie Hernandez

6. Combat-related killing and suicide through the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of suicide
Lindsey L. Monteith and Shira Maguen

7. Suicide risk assessment with combat veterans - Part I: Contextual factors
Christoper G. AhnAllen, Abby Adler, and Phillip M. Kleespies

8. Suicide risk assessment with combat veterans - Part II: Assessment and Management
Phillip M. Kleespies, Abby Adler, and Christoper G. AhnAllen

9. Driving Themselves to Death: Covert and Subintentioned Suicide among Veterans
Glenn R. Sullivan, Phillip C. Kroke, Timothy Hostler

10. Identifying MMPI-2 risk factors for suicide
John J. Barreto and Roger L. Greene

11. Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Suicidal Military Personnel and Veterans
Brad Johnson and Gerry Koocher

12. Evidence-based treatments for the treatment of PTSD: Clinical considerations for PTSD and comorbid suicidality
Afsoon Eftekhari, Sara J. Landes, Katherine C. Bailey, Hana Shin, and Josef I. Ruzek

13. The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) with suicidal service members
David A. Jobes, Blaire C. Schembari, and Keith Jennings

14. Healing the hidden wounds of war: Treating the combat veteran with PTSD at risk for suicide
Herbert Hendin

15. Traumatic brain injury and suicide
Beeta Y. Homaifar, Melodi Billera, Sean M. Barnes, Nazanin Bahraini, and Lisa A. Brenner

16. U.S. Special Operations Preservation of the Task Force and Family Task Force
Bruce Bongar, Kathryn Maslowski, Catherine Hausman, Danielle Spangler, and Tracy Vargo

17. Managing Suicide in the Older Veteran
Bavna B. Vyas, Lisa M. Brown, David Dosa, and Diane L. Elmore

18. Person-centered prevention of suicide in primary care settings
Paul R. Duberstein, Marsha Wittink, and Wilfred R. Pigeon

19. Caring letters for military suicide prevention
David D. Luxton

Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide

Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention

Edited by Bruce Bongar, Glenn Sullivan, and Larry James

Author Information

Bruce Bongar, PhD, ABPP, FAPM, CPsychol, CSci, is the Calvin Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Palo Alto University and served as Consulting Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University's School of Medicine as well as Co-Chair and Director of Training for the PGSP-Stanford doctor of psychology program. For over three decades, Professor Bongar's research and published work has focused on the wide-ranging complexities of therapeutic interventions with difficult patients in general, and on suicide and life-threatening behaviors in particular.

Glenn Sullivan, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Virginia Military Institute. In addition to his numerous publications and presentations, Dr. Sullivan maintains an active private practice in Lexington, Virginia. His clinical specializations include psychological assessment, forensic evaluation, and the treatment of combat veterans.

Larry Charles James, PhD, ABPP, is the President and CEO of the Wright Behavioral Health Group, LLC, and is a Professor at Wright State University. Dr. James retired as a Colonel from the United States Army and served as the Chair of Psychology at both Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Tripler Army Medical Center. Colonel James was awarded both the Bronze Star and the Defense Superior Service Medal.

Contributors:

Abby Adler, Ph.D.
VA Boston Healthcare System
Boston University School of Medicine
Harvard Medical School

Christopher G. AhnAllen, Ph.D.
VA Boston Healthcare System
Harvard Medical School

Nazanin Bahraini, PhD

Katherine M. Bailey, Ph.D.
National Center for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division
VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Sean M. Barnes, PhD

John J. Barreto
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
Palo Alto University

Melodi Billera, LCSW

Whitney Bliss, B.A.
Palo Alto University

Bruce Bongar, Ph.D, ABPP, FAPM
Palo Alto University
Stanford University School of Medicine

Lisa A. Brenner, PhD

Lisa M. Brown
University of South Florida, Tampa
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
Palo Alto University

Craig J. Bryan, PsyD, ABPP
National Center for Veteran's Studies
The University of Utah

Tracy A. Clemans, PsyD
National Center for Veteran's Studies
The University of Utah

David Dosa
Providence VA Medical Center
Brown University

Paul R. Duberstein, Ph.D.
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Rochester Health Care Decision Making Group

Afsoon Eftekhari, Ph.D.
National Center for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division
VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Diane L. Elmore
UCLA-Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

Roger L. Greene
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
Palo Alto University

James Griffith, Ph.D.
Colonel, Medical Service Corps (retired)
National Center for Veterans Studies
University of Utah

David Hart
Palo Alto University

Catherine Hausman, B.A.
Palo Alto University

Herbert Hendin, M. D.

Ann Marie Hernandez, PhD
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Lori Holleran, M.A
Palo Alto University

Beeta Y. Homaifar, PhD

Timothy B. Hostler
United States Air Force

Kasie Hummel, M.A.
Palo Alto University

Larry James, Ph.D.
Colonel (retired)
Wright State University

Keith W. Jennings

David A. Jobes

W. Brad Johnson
United States Naval Academy

Victoria Kendrick, M.S.
Palo Alto University

Phillip M. Kleespies, Ph.D.
VA Boston Healthcare System
Boston University School of Medicine

Gerald P. Koocher
DePaul University

Phillip C. Kroke
United States Army

Sara J. Landes, Ph.D.
National Center for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division
VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Dana Lockwood
Palo Alto University

David D. Luxton, Ph.D.
University of Washington School of Medicine
National Center for Telehealth & Technology

Shira Maguen
San Francisco VA Medical Center
University of California, San Francisco

Kate Maslowski, M.A.
Palo Alto University

Lindsey L. Monteith
Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research
Education and Clinical Center and
University of Colorado School of Medicine

Wilfred R. Pigeon, Ph.D.
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Canandaiguia VA Medical Center

Josef I. Ruzek, Ph.D.
National Center for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division
VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Blaire C. Schembari

Elvin Sheykhani, M.S.
Palo Alto University

Hana J. Shin, Ph.D.
National Center for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division
VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Danielle Spangler, M. A.
Palo Alto University

Glenn R. Sullivan
Virginia Military Institute

Joseph Tomlins, M.S.
Palo Alto University

Tracy Vargo
Palo Alto University

Bavna B. Vyas
Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine

Marsha Wittink, M.D., M.Be.
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Rochester Health Care Decision Making Group