Suicide risk among active and retired Canadian soldiers: The role of posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

This In Review features a primer by Dr Jitender Sareen1 on PTSD and some of its most well-established risk and resilience factors. As noted by Dr Sareen, there is increasing evidence that PTSD is associated with suicidal risk. The second paper in this In Review is a systematic review by Dr Nicola T Fear and colleagues (see Hines et al2) on the PTSD rates observed in various armies of the world following deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. As this issue of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry is being prepared, the last members of the CAF have recently returned from Afghanistan. Several suicides by returnees from Afghanistan have been made public and reports have been echoed by the media; as a result, suicidality among the CAF's active and retired members has once again become a source of concern for all Canadians.