Study finds sharp rise in suicidal thoughts among US military veterans

Suicidal thoughts among U.S. military veterans rose nearly 50% over the past five years, though planning of suicide and attempts to carry it out have remained relatively unchanged, a new national study has found.

The study, led by researchers from the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Yale School of Medicine, found that younger and female veterans were more likely to experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

“This study shows that suicide risk among veterans is not driven by single social hardships in isolation, but by the cumulative burden of multiple adverse social determinants of health,” Robert Pietrzak, a Yale psychiatry and public health professor and one of the study authors, told the Yale Daily News student newspaper.

The findings come as suicide prevention remains a top priority for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has said more than 6,000 veterans take their own lives each year.

Those primarily relying on VA health care were more likely to receive mental health treatment in their lifetime than those who mainly got treatment outside the VA, according to the report findings published Monday in the monthly JAMA Network Open.

Risk factors like depressive disorders, younger age, alcoholism and adverse childhood experiences were identified as the strongest contributors to suicide attempts.

Veterans ages 18-44 had the highest prevalence of attempts at just over 11%, which was nearly double the figure for the next-highest age range.

The strongest risk factors for suicidal thoughts and plans included major depressive disorder and PTSD. Bad childhood experiences and relative youth also factored into the equation.

Researchers hope the data can be used to improve prevention and early intervention methods.

Prevention efforts should include routinely screening veterans for social health factors and overlapping life stressors and providing them coordinated support to address both mental health and practical concerns such as housing, health care, financial strain and social isolation, Pietrzak said.

The PTSD center and Yale team analyzed data from 2,636 veterans who participated in the population-based 2025–2026 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. 

According to the study, the rate of veterans reporting suicidal thoughts during the two weeks prior to the survey rose from 9% in 2019–2020 to 13.4% in 2025–2026.

The rate of reported suicide planning and attempts rose slightly from 7.3% and 3.9%, respectively, in 2019-2020 to 8% and 4.9% in 2026, the report said.

More than 140,000 veterans have died by suicide since 2001, according to a University of Utah report in September citing VA data.

Post-9/11 veterans with traumatic brain injuries were five times more likely to die by suicide in 2020 than their civilian adult counterparts, and veterans without a TBI were three times more likely.

Only 35.5% of veterans reporting suicidal thoughts in the study were receiving any form of mental health treatment. Veterans in the VA system were twice as likely to receive mental health treatment than non-VA users, the report said.

Confidential support is available via the Veterans Crisis Line at any time, day or night, by dialing 988 and pressing 1, or by chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat, or by texting 838255.