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San Diego Union-Tribune
March 24, 2008 Suicidal patients carry weapons
By Meg Jones, McClatchy Tribune News Service
BAGHDAD – Counseling a suicidal person is a difficult task, but the intensity level increases significantly when weapons are added to the equation.
Now all the suicidal patients Milwaukee psychiatrist Michael McBride sees carry guns and knives. It's something McBride, a major in a Minnesota-based Army Reserve combat stress unit, deals with daily in Iraq.
To illustrate his point, McBride motioned to the 9mm handgun he must carry as an Army officer and said, “I tell my colleagues at home that I'm going in to a session with someone who is suicidal, stressed out and with mental problems, and they all come in with loaded weapons.”
When counseling suicidal patients in Milwaukee, McBride, 47, makes sure any weapons that might be in the person's house or vehicle are removed. In Iraq, that's not possible.
“The weapon issue makes this an extremely high-risk scenario,” he said.
McBride gently takes the rifles and handguns from their hands and pulls out the pin so the weapons can no longer be fired. But then he gives the weapons back to the service members because carrying a gun in Iraq is part of their identity as soldiers.
Before his unit of about 60 soldiers arrived in Iraq in early January, McBride knew that some combat stress companies make military members lock up their weapons when they enter clinics. But McBride and other members of his unit decided not to do that because U.S. service members are taught that wherever they go in a war zone, their M-4 or M-16 or .240 machine gun must go, too.
He has handled many suicide attempts and suicidal people during the past three months, but none of his patients has died. Most attempt to commit suicide by overdosing on medication. They have not used their weapons to hurt themselves, something McBride thinks might be because of their sense of duty and pride in the military.
“I say, 'Well, you had your weapon right there,' and they say, 'Oh, I would never do that,'” said McBride, who gave up a lucrative private practice in Milwaukee to work at the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee.
Although McBride has been deployed to American medical facilities in Germany, where he helped severely injured military members who were evacuated shortly after they were blown up by roadside bombs or shot by insurgents, this is his first deployment to Iraq. He is scheduled to stay at Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport until late May.
Many of his patients are on their second or third deployment and didn't experience emotional problems during or after previous tours in Iraq. But now, even though violence is down and it's safer to serve in Iraq compared with a year or two ago, some service members are now suffering anxiety or panic attacks.
One of McBride's patients was involved in the invasion of Iraq and saw heavy combat, but didn't suffer any emotional problems. He returned a second time and, though it was less intense, he still saw his share of violence, but had no ill effects. Now on his third deployment, he's stationed at Camp Liberty, a forward operating base heavily secured and reasonably safe despite sporadic rocket attacks.
Waiting for mortars that might fall on any day or night caused him to snap. He has panic attacks and trembles uncontrollably.
“He was a guy who felt he had rolled the dice too many times and his luck had run out,” McBride said. “He said, 'Beyond the wire (outside the base), at least I'm in control.'”
Aside from prescribing medication, McBride is working with the soldier to help him come to grips with his anxiety. McBride sometimes asks the service members' commanders to give them more work or send them on more missions because the panic attacks often lessen when soldiers are busy and don't have time to worry about the danger.
But there are also times when McBride recommends military members be sent to a military psychiatric facility in Germany or to their home station, where they can get in-patient treatment. Ultimately it's the call of the service members' commanders whether they leave Iraq or stay, which can sometimes be a difficult situation for McBride, who must weigh the Hippocratic oath he took as a physician and his oath as an Army officer.
March 24, 2008 Suicidal patients carry weapons
By Meg Jones, McClatchy Tribune News Service
BAGHDAD – Counseling a suicidal person is a difficult task, but the intensity level increases significantly when weapons are added to the equation.
Now all the suicidal patients Milwaukee psychiatrist Michael McBride sees carry guns and knives. It's something McBride, a major in a Minnesota-based Army Reserve combat stress unit, deals with daily in Iraq.
To illustrate his point, McBride motioned to the 9mm handgun he must carry as an Army officer and said, “I tell my colleagues at home that I'm going in to a session with someone who is suicidal, stressed out and with mental problems, and they all come in with loaded weapons.”
When counseling suicidal patients in Milwaukee, McBride, 47, makes sure any weapons that might be in the person's house or vehicle are removed. In Iraq, that's not possible.
“The weapon issue makes this an extremely high-risk scenario,” he said.
McBride gently takes the rifles and handguns from their hands and pulls out the pin so the weapons can no longer be fired. But then he gives the weapons back to the service members because carrying a gun in Iraq is part of their identity as soldiers.
Before his unit of about 60 soldiers arrived in Iraq in early January, McBride knew that some combat stress companies make military members lock up their weapons when they enter clinics. But McBride and other members of his unit decided not to do that because U.S. service members are taught that wherever they go in a war zone, their M-4 or M-16 or .240 machine gun must go, too.
He has handled many suicide attempts and suicidal people during the past three months, but none of his patients has died. Most attempt to commit suicide by overdosing on medication. They have not used their weapons to hurt themselves, something McBride thinks might be because of their sense of duty and pride in the military.
“I say, 'Well, you had your weapon right there,' and they say, 'Oh, I would never do that,'” said McBride, who gave up a lucrative private practice in Milwaukee to work at the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee.
Although McBride has been deployed to American medical facilities in Germany, where he helped severely injured military members who were evacuated shortly after they were blown up by roadside bombs or shot by insurgents, this is his first deployment to Iraq. He is scheduled to stay at Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport until late May.
Many of his patients are on their second or third deployment and didn't experience emotional problems during or after previous tours in Iraq. But now, even though violence is down and it's safer to serve in Iraq compared with a year or two ago, some service members are now suffering anxiety or panic attacks.
One of McBride's patients was involved in the invasion of Iraq and saw heavy combat, but didn't suffer any emotional problems. He returned a second time and, though it was less intense, he still saw his share of violence, but had no ill effects. Now on his third deployment, he's stationed at Camp Liberty, a forward operating base heavily secured and reasonably safe despite sporadic rocket attacks.
Waiting for mortars that might fall on any day or night caused him to snap. He has panic attacks and trembles uncontrollably.
“He was a guy who felt he had rolled the dice too many times and his luck had run out,” McBride said. “He said, 'Beyond the wire (outside the base), at least I'm in control.'”
Aside from prescribing medication, McBride is working with the soldier to help him come to grips with his anxiety. McBride sometimes asks the service members' commanders to give them more work or send them on more missions because the panic attacks often lessen when soldiers are busy and don't have time to worry about the danger.
But there are also times when McBride recommends military members be sent to a military psychiatric facility in Germany or to their home station, where they can get in-patient treatment. Ultimately it's the call of the service members' commanders whether they leave Iraq or stay, which can sometimes be a difficult situation for McBride, who must weigh the Hippocratic oath he took as a physician and his oath as an Army officer.