More Military Suicides Than Killed in Afghanistan

More active-duty military men and women committed suicide last year than were killed in Afghanistan. Some 350 people in the military killed themselves in 2012, and 295 troops were killed in Afghanistan. The high number of suicides is partly blamed on administrative backlogs in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the stigma many soldiers still attach to getting help for mental health issues and alcoholism and drug addiction.

Suicide is not the answer. Treatment is. Alcoholism and chemical dependency is a diagnosable and treatable disease. The professional staff view this illness as a primary disease that is progressive in nature, which can be interrupted, and recovery begins. In addiction, the individual manifests a dependent relationship with alcohol and other mind-altering chemicals.

The treatment of addiction is dependent upon your daily abstinence, which is contingent on the maintenance of your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. We believe that your commitment to a daily plan of recovery that utilizes the 12-Step principles and philosophies of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous enables the likelihood of continued abstinence. However, without a daily plan of recovery, relapse warning signs and triggers will be activated and your physical abstinence is likely to be sabotaged. Your likelihood of success increases as you surrender and accept that you have a treatable disease and are responsible for the maintenance of your daily sobriety. We also believe that chemical dependency causes complex, destructive personality changes in the family. Families suffer psychologically, socially, and at times physically. Therefore, family integration into treatment is recommended and offered for family members and/or your significant others.