The Moscow City Psychology-Teacher´s Training University conducted a seminar this week on suicide prevention in the Russian Army. The issue is vital to Russian society: according to the General Office of the Public Prosecutor, more than 6,500 army personnel suffered from ‘dedovshina’ (harassment, humiliation, and other violations of soldiers´ dignity) last year. Of these, approximately 70 went on to commit suicide. (07-DEC-07)
Written by Inna Komar/HRH Moscow. Sources: materials are given by Mother`s Right Foundation (HRH Moscow), www.hro.org. Edited by HRH F / Niels Jacob Harbitz.
Within the framework of the joint project ´expert examination in cases of militaries´ death´ the seminar was organized by the Mother´s Right Foundation (MRF ) and the Independent Psychiatric Association of the Russian Federation (IPAR). The grant for this project was given by the European Initiative in Democracy and Human Rights (European Commission), Sigrid Rausing Trust and Open Society Institute (Budapest). The reason for conducting such a seminar in Russia is that suicides among army personnel is far too common. As the MRF and IPAR have wide experience in this field, they have noticed that army psychologists often do not possess the skills required to deal with this problem.
Estimate the risk, and you can prevent it from happening
Military psychologists from different regions of the Russian Federation (Chita, Kurgan, Sverdlovsk and others), students (from the Moscow City Psycho-Teacher`s Training University), and an official from the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation took part in the seminar. Among the speakers were certificated specialists, trained in Canada, but with experience in conducting similar seminars in the Russian Federation. The purpose of the seminar was to provide its participants with the necessary skills to identify and estimate the risk of suicide and teach them how to interfere to prevent this from happening.
