War Myths and the Normalization of PTSD and Military Suicide
The Military Suicide Equation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2236627 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Megan Mackenzie (0000-0003-4052-2420, Simon Fraser University, corresponding author), Nicole Wegner (0000-0002-9534-4820, The University of Sydney, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2022-06-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Political Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1749-5679 • E-ISSN: 1749-5687 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ips/olab033 |
| OpenAlex | W4220951270 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 34 |
Military suicide is an increasing concern for Western militaries. In this article, using a qualitative media analysis, we introduce the military suicide equation as a metanarrative and analytic tool for understanding discourse on military suicides. This metanarrative-overseas service + post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) = suicide-positions military suicide as the consequences of PTSD acquired during overseas military deployment and positions increased military funding as the simplistic solution to what is often described as a military suicide 'epidemic.' The military suicide equation operates to both normalize evidence of widespread mental health issues within militaries and sustain support for military institutions and war deployments by directing public attention to the 'problem-solution' cycle identified in the equation. We assess the political consequences of this simplistic representation, namely the reproduction of preexisting myths about the 'unknowability' of war, civilian responsibilities to 'Support the Troops,' and the exceptional nature of military service and combat deployment
Criminology · Medical emergency · Mental health · Metanarrative · Military operations other than war · Military personnel · Military psychiatry · Military psychology · Military science · Military service · Military sociology · Military theory · Narrative · Normalization (sociology) · Poison control · Political science · Politics · Psychiatry · Social science · Sociology · Software deployment · Spanish Civil War · Suicide prevention · Engineering · Health and Conflict Studies · Law · Medicine · Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research · Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
Beyond the Band of Brothers
Making War at Fort Hood
The invention of post-traumatic stress disorder and the social usefulness of a psychiatric category
Madness in International Relations
Helpful heroes and the political utility of militarized masculinities
Churn
The plural of soldier is not troops
The Demise of PTSD
Illicit Military Behavior as Exceptional and Inevitable
Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming
PTSD in the U.S. military, and the politics of prevalence
Brotherhood
Discursive battlefields
Combat as a moving target
The military covenant and the civil-military contract in Britain
Therapeutic Governance
Masculinities and emotional expression in UK servicemen
The Gender Politics of 'Ground Truth' in the Military Dissent Movement
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |