Suicidal behavior is a critical problem in the military, among civilians during a war and among returning war veterans. Millions of people around the world were involved in many wars and military conflicts during the past 100 years. Nowadays, suicidal behavior is a critical problem among Soldiers and Marines deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and returning war veterans. The U.S. Army’s top Medical Officer has been reported as saying that commanders are seeking ways to address the alarming increase in suicides, including looking to their counterparts in the Air Force and in civilian agencies (Associated Press, September 4, 2008). This book is dedicated to the relationship between war and suicidal behavior. The relationship between war and suicide is perplex. Understanding the impact of war on suicidal behavior in the military, among civilians and war veterans is an important challenge for future research. This book will be of interest to physicians, psychologists, other clinicians, experts in public health management, military people and war veterans.

Publisher: Nova Science Publishers

Editors: Leo Sher and Alexander Vilens

Click here to view chapter abstracts.

Table of Contents:

Preface

Part I. War, Human Behavior and Suicide

Chapter 1. Understanding human behavior during war
Dusica Lecic-Tosevski, Saveta Draganic-Gajic, Milica Pejovic-Milovancevic.
Institute of Mental Health, Belgrade, Serbia

Chapter 2. People act, people make wars, people react: Understanding human behavior during war
Marco Sarchiapone, Sanja Temnik, Federica Limongi, Vladimir Carli.
University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy; University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia; Leonardo Foundation for Medical Science, General Hospital, Abano Terme, Italy

Chapter 3. War, massive social change and suicide
Said Shahtahmasebi.
The Good Life Research Centre Trust, Rangiora, North Canterbury, New Zealand

Chapter 4. War and depression
Amra Zalihic, Dino Zalihic.
Health Care Center Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Mostar University, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Chapter 5. Mental disorder, war and suicide
Caslav Loncar, Tomislav Franic.
University Hospital Split, Split, Croatia

Chapter 6. They also serve who only stand and wait: Suicide in wartime civilian populations
Wally Barr, Maria Leitner.
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom; InfotechUK Research Ltd., Wildboarclough, Cheshire, United Kingdom

Chapter 7. The Netherlands and World War II, Jews and suicide
Wout Ultee, Ruud Luijkx, Frank van Tubergen.
Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Part II. Stress and Suicide

Chapter 8. Stress and suicidal behavior
Eduardo J. Aguilar, Samuel G. Siris, Enrique Baca-García.
Hospital de Sagunt, Sagunto (Valencia), Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain; Zucker-Hillside Hospital, North Shore – Long Island Jewish Health System. Glen Oaks, New York, USA; Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

Chapter 9. Post traumatic stress disorder and suicidal behavior
Maurizio Pompili, Alberto Forte, Enrica De Simoni, Ludovica Telesforo, David Lester, Roberto Tatarelli, Stefano Ferracuti.
Sant’Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy; Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona, New Jersey, USA

Chapter 10. Medicalization of distress: Pros and cons
Edith van’t Hof, Dan J. Stein.
University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa

Part III. War and Children

Chapter 11. Bio-behavioral consequences of traumatic stress in childhood and adolescence: the effects of war on children’s mental health, growth and development
Panagiota Pervanidou, Gerasimos Kolaitis, George P. Chrousos.
Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece; Aghia Sophia Children’s Hospital, Athens, Greece

Chapter 12. Trauma and posttraumatic stress in child soldiers of World War II
Philipp Kuwert, Harald J. Freyberger.
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Part IV. Physical injury and suicide

Chapter 13. Combat related physical injury and suicidal behaviour
Abel Koshy.
West London Mental Health NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom

Chapter 14. Deployment-acquired TBI and suicidality: risk and assessment
Lisa A. Brenner, Beeta Y. Homaifar.
Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, Denver, Colorado, USA; University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA; School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado, USA; Craig Hospital, Englewood, Colorado, USA

Chapter 15. Preventing suicidal behavior after traumatic brain injury
Arja Mainio.
Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

Part V. Suicide in War Veterans

Chapter 16. Suicide in veterans
David While, Navneet Kapur.
University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

Chapter 17. Suicidal behavior in war veterans
Sandeep Grover.
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

Chapter 18. The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behaviors as an explanation of suicide among war veterans
Lindsey L. Monteith, Kelly L. Green, Amanda R. Mathew, and Jeremy W. Pettit.
University of Houston, Texas, USA

Chapter 19. The concept of posttraumatic mood disorder and its relation to suicidal behavior in war veterans
Leo Sher.
Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, USA

Part VI. Reflections

Chapter 20. Locating now: on historical trauma and the confusion of identity
Shelly Ben David.
Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, USA

Index