I thought I might post this here to see what the esteemed experts of this site might be able to contribute. This question was posted on the Lamsdorf/Stalag 344 Facebook page today. "Does anyone know about any former POWs who committed suicide in later life, after the war? The POW experiences affected different people in different ways, and sadly some felt eventually unable to cope with life later on - though of course it might be difficult to say that this was directly attributable to what happened in the war. There do not seem to be statistics about this." Does anyone know of any official research or academic studies that might have been carried out into the subject or included in the wider realm of PTSD?
Interesting to note 1947 was very low. Can't seem to get link. https://academic.oup.com/ije/article-pdf/39/6/1464/2197981/dyq094.pdf Suicide in England and Wales 1861 - 2007. It works now
Interesting reading. Thanks for sharing. My feeling based on the largely anecdotal evidence I've seen so far would indicate PTSD type symptoms, heavy drinking etc often over a period of years post war. I would expect the number of actual suicides to still be relatively low but perhaps a higher incidence of premature death due to the aforementioned heavy drinking - heard a few stories from relatives of former POWs who "drank themselves to death".
This one is kind of the other side of the coin, I have a Paybook to a Sgt who was with the Lanarkshire Yeomanry in Malaya, seemed to have mental issues and was medically evacuated not long before his Regiment was lost in Singapore, he served out the War in the Pioneer Corps. Shortly after the War he put a shotgun in his mouth and killed himself, I do wonder if he felt guilt about not being with his unit/men and having avoided their suffering as POWs, as a territorial unit it would have been a close knit group. It's possible it was just his earlier issues returning. Alistair
