By Michael Schindler

In some ways,  I wish the title of this article was misleading, but truth be told, it is accurate. With Army suicides on the rise — 38 in the month of July — leadership is willing to test new science in order to buy time before a long-term solution is found.

Suicides in our military jumped 80 percent from 2004 to 2008, and this year alone the numbers have soared 18 percent over the previous year, which was the second highest year for military suicides. The challenge for leadership is that there is not just one specific trigger — each suicide is unique to the individual, and thus, no solution seems to be working — and suicides amongst our troops continues to climb.

However, researchers from the University of Indiana’s School of Medicine think they’ve found the answer — an anti-suicide nasal spray — and the Army is handing them $3 million dollars to prove their case.

According to Dr. Michael Kubek, an associate professor of neurobiology and also the lead on the project, a natural releasing compound called thyrotropin-releasing hormone, otherwise known as TRH, now harnessed in a nasal spray, could be the answer to stabilizing those on the verge of suicide until the anti-depressants kick in.

“We’ve known since the 1970s that TRH has antidepressant effects, and it works quite rapidly,” Kubek, whose work has been instrumental in uncovering how TRH impacts the brain, told The Daily. “The bottom-line problem has been figuring out how to get it into the brain.”

Kubek and team think they’ve solved that issue and the Army is willing to give it a shot over the next three years. According to The Daily, “earlier trials of TRH already showed that boosting an individual’s levels can quickly decrease suicidal ideas, depression and bipolar disorders.”

For some, the fact that the military has stripped close to all spiritual components from the day to day life of the service member is contributing to the rise in suicides – the real answer lies in a combination of providing purpose, hope, and a sense of mission; not creating long-term dependency on anti-depressants.

General Lloyd Austin III, the vice chief of staff of the Army, readily admits that suicide is the toughest enemy he has fought in his 37 years of service. He also goes on to state that the long term solution is helping soldiers build resiliency and life coping skills.

The spray is hopefully a short term answer to a devastating problem that requires more time for a long-term solution.
Bottom line: One life saved is priceless.

To view more, see Mike Schindler on FOX – Q13.

Michael Schindler, Navy veteran, and president of Edmonds-based Operation Military Family, is a guest writer for several national publications, author of the book “Operation Military Family” and “The Military Wire” blog. He is also a popular keynote and workshop speaker who reaches thousands of service members and their families every year through workshops and seminars that include  “How to Battle-Ready Your Relationship” or “What Your Mother-in-Law Didn’t Tell You.”  He received the 2010 Outstanding Patriotic Service Award from the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.