Army suicides at highest point in 26 years; 20 percent had mood disorders

Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, a new military report says.

The 99 suicides in 2006, which included 28 soldiers deployed to the two wars, amounted to a rate of 17.3 per 100,000, the report said. The average rate over the last 26 years has been 12.3 per 100,000.

Preliminary numbers for the first half of this year indicate the number of suicides could decline Army-wide but increase among troops serving in the wars, officials said.

Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems and the stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit suicide, the report shows.

About a quarter of those who killed themselves had a history of at least one psychiatric disorder. Of those, about 20% had been diagnosed with a mood disorder such as bipolar disorder or depression; and 8% had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, including post traumatic stress disorder.

Firearms were the most common method of suicide.