On February 26, the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel held a hearing on the “Relationships Between Military Sexual Assault, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Suicide, and on Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Treatment and Management of Victims of Sexual Trauma.”
Susan J. McCutcheon, RN, EdD, national mental health director, Family Services, Women’s Mental Health and Military Sexual Trauma (MST), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), testified that “Between both civilian and military populations, research has shown that experiences of trauma are associated with suicidal behavior. With regard to sexual trauma specifically, data from civilian samples have shown an association between sexual victimization and suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, and death by suicide. These relationships remain even after controlling for comorbid mental health conditions like depression and PTSD. Studies of suicide among veterans who experienced MST show similar findings. For example, among both Canadian and United States military forces, experiences of sexual trauma during military service are associated with suicide attempts and death by suicide. A study of veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom similarly showed that experiences of sexual harassment and assault are associated with suicidal ideation. Consistent with studies of civilians, the association between sexual harassment/assault and suicidal ideation remained even after controlling for mental health symptomatology. VHA [Veterans Health Administration] administrative data sources show a similar pattern of findings in that MST is significantly associated with risk for suicide for both women and men, and that this relationship remains even after controlling for age, medical and psychiatric conditions, and place of residence.”
The following witnesses also testified:
