Air Force Suicides Plummet Due to Therapy Outreach, CDC Says
Suicides in the Air Force have been cut in half in the four years since it launched a prevention program aimed at breaking down macho resistance to seeing a therapist and talking out personal problems, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For years, suicide has been the second-leading cause of death among the Air Force’s 350,000 personnel, behind only accidental injuries.
But the numbers have declined steadily since the Air Force started its suicide prevention program in 1995. Suicides dropped from 68 in 1994 to 34 last year. So far, the 1999 number is even lower--just six suicides through August.
“Every indication is that, in 1999, we will be far below any low that we have recorded in the last 20 years,” said David Litt, who directed the program and is now a special advisor on suicide prevention to the U.S. surgeon general.
Litt said the Air Force’s program could be a model for prevention programs aimed at civilians.
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