By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on February 16, 2015 ~ 1 min read

New research finds that short-term cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) dramatically reduces suicide attempts among at-risk military personnel.

Investigators from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio led the two-year study on 152 active-duty soldiers who had either attempted suicide or had been determined to be at high risk for suicide. All soldiers were stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado.

They found that soldiers receiving CBT were 60 percent less likely to make a suicide attempt during the 24-month follow-up than those receiving standard treatment.

The results have been published online by The American Journal of Psychiatry.

The findings are particularly encouraging, given that rates of active-duty service members receiving psychiatric diagnoses increased by more than 60 percent during a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rates of suicides and suicide attempts rose in comparable numbers.

The significant increase in military suicides over the past decade is a national tragedy, said Alan Peterson, Ph.D., a co-investigator on the study.

The Department of Defense has responded by investing significant resources into military suicide research, and the findings from this study may be the most important and most hopeful to date.To see a 60 percent reduction in suicide attempts among at-risk active-duty soldiers after a brief intervention is truly exciting, Peterson said.

Other University of Texas Health Science Center investigators included Stacey Young-McCaughan, RN, Ph.D., and Jim Mintz, Ph.D.

See the article here:
Brief CBT Reduces Suicide Attempts among At-Risk Soldiers