By Clay Dillow Posted 08.22.2012 at 10:08 am 12 Comments

A U.S. Army Soldier on Patrol with Iraqi Soldiers in 2007 USAF

The U.S. Army tallied 38 confirmed or suspected suicides among its ranks last month--that’s among both active- and non-active-duty members including the Army National Guard and Army Reserve--the highest rate of suicide within the branch yet observed, further underscoring a mental health crisis that the services have yet to get a handle on. But help may be coming in an unlikely form: nasal spray.

The Army is funding a study into a new kind of treatment for soldiers wracked by suicidal thoughts that could deliver anti-depressive chemicals to the brain via the nasal passages. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone, or TRH, is a neurochemical that has proved an effective anti-depressant and anti-suicidal treatment in previous research. But it has trouble crossing what’s known as the blood-brain barrier, that natural boundary that keeps the nervous system free of potentially harmful substances in the bloodstream. This barrier keeps TRH away from the brain when administered orally or via injection, making it largely useless in the case of a soldier dealing with very immediate suicidal thoughts.

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Science, Clay Dillow, health, medicine, mental health, military, military suicides, suicide
The military is thus throwing its money and its hopes behind Associate Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology Dr. Michael Kubek, who is also a neurobiologiest at the Indiana University School of Medicine. The three-year grant aims to develop a non-invasive nasal spray that soldiers can administer themselves to quickly deliver TRH to the brain.

If it works, it could help curb a mental health problem that has proven deadly to U.S. military personnel, and one that is more difficult to approach than, say, an IED. Last year the Army reported 283 suicides, down just slightly from 305 the year before. This year it has reported just 120 to date, but 67 other deaths are suspected suicides still under investigation. More on this over at CNN.

[CNN]

12 Comments

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Robot
08/22/12 at 10:54 am

Strange, when reality mimics the game Star Craft. The solders in Star Craft can inject themselves with drugs too.

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killerT
08/22/12 at 12:14 pm

The rest of society has known sniffing drugs as a quick fix for years. Thanks for the official sanction though.

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menoc
08/22/12 at 12:42 pm

Is this Nasal spray powdery white by any chance?

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Robot
08/22/12 at 12:49 pm

What happens if you start stock piling you nasal spray and save your quantities for parties later or sell it? This could open up all other problems in itself.

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Robot
08/22/12 at 12:50 pm

Sniff, sniff, weeeeeee war is FUN!

Something is wrong with that sentence.

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lobe9485
08/23/12 at 11:56 am

I doubt very much that this will be an "issued" item. More likely it'll be controlled by Army docs. If they just handed it to front line medics and the average Joe it would absolutely be inhaled whenever to enhance the latest Halo gaming session.

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Aldrons Last Hope
08/23/12 at 1:09 pm

Pharma industry uses soldiers as guinea pigs.

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JediMindset
08/23/12 at 6:18 pm

@Aldrons Last Hope

yep, and the government is happy and lend them their sheep. the scary part is that they will be force to take this if they show any signs of suicide.

"You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." -Morpheus

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scottmana
08/23/12 at 7:24 pm

This is going to be a disaster! "..soldiers can administer themselves... ...If it works,..." Is it just me or does this stink of profit and giving incredibly strong mind effecting drugs to average soldiers to self administer?

38 suicides you say? Get a little too free with drugs this powerful and 38 would be a fantastically low number.

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norman_pickett
08/26/12 at 10:13 am

Amazing, first they show video of how a service dog helps then they publish a MEMO like directive to disallow service dogs on military bases and at the VA so vets can't get medical help at all and now they want to spend money on researchng a nasal spray to TEMPORARILY quell the urge to commit suicide. What happened to helping them to live a longer more productive life with a Service Dog? WHAT A CROCK OF BALONEY !!!!!!!!!!

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adaptation
08/27/12 at 9:57 pm

I think you misspelled THC in the article (^_^)

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Bluesclone
09/03/12 at 6:20 pm

Those wacky psychs...of course, they know that the suicides are a "side effect" of anti-depressants. Mental health crisis, indeed!



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