Air Force Struggles With Rising Suicide Rates - Essay Sample

Introduction

Suicide cases have been a critical issue and a major concern in the United States Air Force. United States Air Force is a branch of United States Armed Forces that keeps order in aerial and space warfare that was formulated in 1947. Since then, there have been numerous suicide cases within the service; for instance, there were reported cases of eleven airmen committing suicide at the start of 2019, with the number remaining relatively constant within different ranks. This has drawn much attention with the service trying to induce several solutions to reduce or even eradicate suicide cases. Nevertheless, the service has suggestions for improving the current methods to prevent suicide cases. Therefore, the problem of suicide cases and the possible solutions to the problem have been comprehensively discussed below. In addition, the best possible and most effective solution has been thoroughly evaluated.

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Discussion

United States Air Force is faced with epidemics of suicide cases every year, with cases rising and falling; however, the rate falls at a minimal percentage. There has been a significant rise in the numbers of suicide cases in 2019. There was also a relatively high increase back in 1994 by 23 percent of the total deaths in the United States Air Force. Statistics show an increase of 30 more cases in 2019 than the registered number of cases in 2018. This has increased tension within the air force service with the fears of losing more than one hundred men in a year.

The suicide cases in the Air Force in the United States are believed to be caused by psychosocial factors. The most individual stresses are resulting from relationship problems, legal issues, and difficulties faced by individuals in the workplace. In addition, there are believes of suicide cases originating from medical conditions of airmen, for example, traumatic brain injuries, and chronic pains that individuals face. Nevertheless, most suicide cases methods involve the use of firearms.

Therefore, with such devastating suicide cases in the United States Air Force, there has been a lot of concern for the issue involving the major head departments wanting to realize the major causes and the solutions to the problem. The fact that the suicide cases have increased by a significant number in 2019 from the number registered in the year 2018 has shown that the current measures that are in place to prevent the airmen from taking their lives shows that they are not much effective in preventing the disaster.

Therefore, the possible solutions to decreasing suicide rates in the united states Air Force include the enhancement of suicide prevention campaigns, inducement of healthcare professionals to offer additional education to the airmen and the minimization of the stigma associated with mental health within the Air Force service. These solutions are broadly discussed below.

Enhancement of Suicide Prevention Campaigns

There should be suicide prevention campaigns whose target is airmen to help prevent suicide cases in the United States Air Force. The service should organize for campaigns effective and persuasive campaigns to educate airmen on the importance of their services and how to handle different issues in their lives and workplace. The campaigns should focus on emphasizing early interventions, and strengthening factors that protect suicide occurrences, for example, effective skills to cope causes of suicides, and promoting a sense of belonging among the airmen.

Suicide prevention campaigns will also help in the interaction and mobilization of airmen and therefore, effective delivery of the message.

Inducement of Healthcare Professionals to Offer Additional Education to the Airmen

The United States Air Force service should induce healthcare professionals who will provide effective education to the airmen. The professionals should educate the airmen on how to manage stress, especially when they are faced with mental challenges, psychological stress, or when under chronic pains.

The healthcare professionals should also receive additional education on identifying suicide risk factors as well as performing suicide risk screening. This will help the identification of suicide possibilities before they happen. In fact, it is important that there is the existence of screening tools available for detection of suicidal ideations and depressions that have the ability to identify individuals at risk of committing suicide.

The healthcare professionals should offer education on depressions as well as diagnosing it, which is a major cause of suicides.

Minimization of the Stigma Associated With Mental Health Within the Air Force Service

The United States Air Force service should reduce the stigma that is associated with mental health in airmen. This is because many airmen do not seek regular care that is needed when they have mental health problems.

These mental health problems may result in wide-ranging and negative effects on the life quality of these members and cause social, cognitive functioning, and emotional problems that may end up causing suicides.

The United States Department of Defense should explore privacy strategies, induce policies that provide better guidance to the regular check of mental health problems, and improving the research on stigma reduction to help to minimize the stigma.

Therefore, the most effective proposed solution for decreasing suicide rates in the United States Air Force is to minimize the stigma around mental health by inducing mandatory mental health appointments.

Every airman should attend a mandatory minimum number of mental health checks with healthcare professionals to increase anonymity and minimize stigmatization.

Other methods of suicide prevention will be less effective without first eliminating stigmatization because mental health problems are the main cause of suicides. Suicide is a mental decision resulting from mental disorders such as depression, emotional, and psychological problems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is a need to address the suicide case within the United States Air Force to save the lives of airmen, who are designated to serve the state. In the integration of other solutions to prevent or minimize suicides, The United States Air Force should minimize the stigma around mental health by requiring mandatory mental health appointments for all Airmen to effectively reduce suicide rates as a major and most effective solution.