Mood Swings

A Psychiatrist Surveys the Mind and the Wider World

Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH is director of the mood disorders and psychopharmacology programs in the department of psychiatry at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. See full bio

February 13, 2009, Psychiatry

Comments on "The Bell Tolls: Military Suicide in Iraq"

The Bell Tolls: Military Suicide in Iraq

By Dr. Nassir Ghaemi on February 13, 2009 in Mood Swings

Soldier-suicides might be teaching us is that the conventional wisdom we all learned is wrong. Read More

Lose-Lose Situation?

Submitted by SteveM on February 13, 2009 - 1:39pm.

I wonder if the primary reason for the suicides and degree of mental disorders among the troops in Iraq is a function of the environmental ambiguity. In World War II, soldiers knew exactly who the enemy was. If he was in France, he knew the local population was friendly. If he was in Germany, everyone was rightfully suspect.

However in Iraq, service personnel have been tasked with the inconguous, divergent missions of both fighting a war and nation building. Moreover, the general Iraqi population is contemptuous of the American presence. That kind of cognitive dissonance in which the people you are trying to help still hate you fundamentally and will even try to kill you if given the opportunity must be extremely challenging to a soldier's psychology.

If any fingers are pointed, they should be pointed at the people that put those military personnel in that situation in the first place.

reply

Submitted by Dr. Nassir Ghaemi on February 13, 2009 - 3:13pm.

These are very perceptive comments, and likely explain what is happening in part. It would be interesting to compare what is happening now to suicide rates in Viet Nam, where the ambiguity of friend versus foe might be similar to Iraq.

Noble Extension

Submitted by SteveM on February 14, 2009 - 5:25pm.

That is a great idea. Only I think the focus should extend beyond suicide to PTSD. Was there something unique about both conflicts that enabled that condition?

I think so. And there is a book embedded in the elucidation. Not only a psychiatric treatise, but a political treatise on how and why we send young men to die.

Have at it Dr. Ghaemi.

Minor Correction...

Submitted by Greg Gauthier on July 6, 2009 - 12:30pm.

The poem "Success" was actually written by one Bessie Anderson Stanley. It was in a book of Poems in which an Emerson was printed in close proximity to hers, and this is believed to be why the misattribution occurred.

Hope this helps.

Suicides

Submitted by Rick Paris on July 7, 2009 - 2:22pm.

I was in the first Gulf "conflict". It is depressing as a young person, who at an early age of 18-25, has not a direction, as no person of that age really possesses. To find oneself attempting to do "good" for family, country, people, in lieu of some lesser choice of a career, one can find the military compelling. When you actually begin your tour, all of your beliefs begin to be replaced with the harsh reality your country, it's ideal, are almost all totally false and all you are being told to do things of a low character, things are nothing as they seemed, you have been duped into thinking you are the best of the best, when you are actually nothing but a tool. It also can feel there is no way out. So many comrades leaning on the side of crazy adolescents, (regardless of age or rank) There is nothing to do with all that anger and despair, sometimes suicide seems like the only/best option. Bootcamp does not prepare you mentally for the betrayal you were set up for. A person of high character will have a terrible time with his/her conscience.