Coping Skills In Firefighters

Coping mechanisms are used almost as a buffer to provide comfort to an otherwise uncomfortable situation. They act usually as a small dose of normal in a strange situation.

2.1. What is effective about these strategies for coping with stress, and why did they work?

Most firefighters are known to not be open with sharing how they feel because it can possibly ruin their reputation as a firefighter and in the firehouse. It was not until military personnel were presenting symptoms that are currently known to be associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Meroney presents the article with a list of the most common signs that can be observed in the firefighter. Signs such as substance abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, and loneliness, once these signs are present try to talk with the firefighter and see what is affecting them. They need professional help to cure this disorder. The fire service is known to be a large family that watches out for each other, the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation created the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives. In which, number 13- behavioral health, this initiative helps prevents firefighter’s deaths. Meroney basically goes over the basics of

Coping strategies include the use defense mechanisms, controlling behavior, use of repetition, humor and exercise.

For many years, the fire service has been behind the times in scientific advancements in regards to fire tactics, fire behavior, and fire equipment. Through the investigation and experiments of the National Institute of Standards and Technology over the last few years, the fire service has seen enormous strides in research that has changed the mentality of the fire service for the better in my opinion. This paper will cover a little background of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), along with how NIST has changed the fire service for the better, and is NIST good for the fire service as a whole.

N., & Morash, M. (1999)). Social support from others helps people to deal with job stress. Social support for females is likely to result in effective coping with stress. Studies found that women were better at using their support system because they talk with each other to cope with their

The Fire Service has been around a long time. It is well known that Firemen work long hours and are constantly put in stressful situations (i.e. fire suppression, medical aids, crash rescue) as a part of their daily job. Frequent exposure to these stressful events puts Firefighters at an increased risk of posttraumatic symptomology (Wagner, Mcfee, & Martin, 2010, p. 26). The primary purpose of this study was to add to previous research done by Brown, Mulhern, & Joseph, 2002; Corneil, Beaton, Murphy, Johnson, & pike, 1999; Emmons & Diener, 1986; and Haslam & Mallon, 2003, but also to address some discrepancies they had with sampling bias in previous research (e.g., Corneil et al., 1999) (Wagner et al.,2010). All of the previous studies found that Firefighters were at greater risk of getting PTSD and used similar methods in regards to acquiring their data (Wagner et al., 2010).

Coping is something that everyone has experienced in their lifetime, whether it be over something significant or insignificant we have all experienced it. In an academic journal published in 2003, authors Gerhard Anderson, and Mimmie Willebrand stated, “Coping has been defined as the process of managing demands (external or internal) that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person” (S97). There have often been thought to be two main types of coping strategies, these strategies are problem-focused and emotional-focused coping (Heyman et al. 154). These two strategies differ from each other because, “problem-focused coping is often described as managing the problem, while emotion-focused coping is directed at regulating emotional responses to the problem” (Heyman et al. 154). Anderson and Willebrand have stated that coping is to serve two distinct purposes: to do away with the problem...and to regulate emotional reactions (S97). There are many different reasons that people cope and many different ways that people do it, but if not done right can cause a person emotional turmoil and make them inherit mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Three ingredients in the conceptualization of coping are as follows, (1) coping need not be successful, but an effort must be made; (2) this effort need not be expressed in actual behavior, but can affect cognition as well; and (3) a cognitive appraisal of the taxing situation is a prerequisite for initiating coping attempts (Anderson and

In another study in which 267 participants from a large urban fire department in the southeastern United States participated, results failed to show that levels of social support can be a predictor of the onset of PTSD (Farnsworth, 2011). A separate study

If aggression is the result of trying to escape a demand, then follow through with the demand using the 3-step guided compliance (tell, show, do).

Basically, the CBT program emphasizes psychoeduation about ADHD, training focused on developing and implementing efficacious coping strategies, such as good planning, organizing, reducing distractibility, cognitive restructuring, time management, reducing procrastination, and improving communication to effectively manage the symptoms of ADHD in everyday life (Ramsay, & Rostain, 2011; Houghton, Alsalmi, Tan, Taylor, & Durkin, 2013). Essentially, CBT can be practical and helpful in an efficient manner in which individuals with ADHD have a structural environment with easy to follow step-by-step guide that provides a controllable direction and detectable improvement.

Since the 1900s, the field of crisis intervention has developed concepts and practices that focus on civilian populations and individuals exposed to harmful situations such as the military. Moreover, disaster mental health that targets first responders is a field of practice that has developed during the same period. The development of this field of crisis intervention that targets first responders was influenced by various factors i.e. the realization of occupational risk these individuals are exposed to, emergence of critical incident stress management, and the increase in global terrorism (Castellano & Plionis, 2006, p.327).

A potential explanation for this finding may be the role of coping mechanisms on ameliorating emotional distress. For instance, Torres, Driscoll and Burrow (2010) noted that active coping behaviors reported lower levels of stress due to discrimination. Torres and colleagues argued that coping strategies may have a buffering or exacerbating effect on distress associated with discrimination and microaggressions. Torres and colleagues specified that active coping strategies serve a protective function when ascriptions of intelligence or personal ability microaggressions are encountered (Torres, Driscoll and Burrow, 2010). Thus, it is possible that when participants engaged in coping behaviors, this influenced their level of emotional distress.

This essay discusses coping, a complex process exercised by people to suppress, change, or eliminate stress or threat. This essay also discusses copers, that is, people who exhibit certain personality characteristics, known as distress resistant personality patterns, which can significantly influence whether they stay healthy or become ill. Also covered are coping strategies, -strategies people draw upon to solve life’s stressors, some

Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce or minimize stressful events. There are two general coping strategies which have been distinguished. Problem-focused strategies are efforts to do something active to alleviate stressful circumstances, where as emotion-focused coping strategies involve efforts to regulate the emotional consequences of stressful or potentially stressful events. Typically, people use both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping in their stressful episodes, which suggests that both types of coping are useful for most stressful events (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980).