The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide - brief summary and commentary on the research findings in Volume 7

Jeffrey C L Looi; Stephen Allison; Michelle Atchison; Tarun Bastiampillai; Steve Kisely; Stephen J Robson

doi:10.1177/10398562241299336

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide - brief summary and commentary on the research findings in Volume 7

Australas Psychiatry. 2024 Nov 12:10398562241299336. doi: 10.1177/10398562241299336. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jeffrey C L Looi^{1

2

3}, Stephen Allison^{2

4}, Michelle Atchison^{5

6}, Tarun Bastiampillai^{2

4

7}, Steve Kisely^{2

8

9}, Stephen J Robson¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, School of Medicine and Psychology, Canberra Hospital, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
² Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Policy and Research Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.
³ Section of Private Practice Psychiatry, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
⁵ Board, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁶ Private Practice, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁸ School of Medicine, Princess Alexandra Hospital, The University of Queensland, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
⁹ Departments of Psychiatry, Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, School of Medicine and Psychology, Canberra Hospital, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

PMID: 39533152
DOI: 10.1177/10398562241299336

Abstract

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide recently published research analysis of the risk of suicide based on data from the Australian Defence Force (ADF). We aim to provide a brief summary of the salient findings, as well as a commentary from a clinical perspective for the psychiatric profession providing care for ADF serving members and veterans who bear a burden of psychiatric morbidity related to the nature of their work. The suicide risk from current and past service, and in certain roles, highlight the challenges facing those in military service, with implications for the time spent on active deployment and transition post-deployment.

Keywords: Australian defence force; Suicide; royal commission; veteran.

Publication types

Editorial