The Role Of Occupational Stress And The Stress

Have you ever wondered what’s it 's like to be a cop? Or what cop’s families go through on a day to day basis? This book Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement written by Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. gives us an outline on the difficulty and stress that law enforcement officer and their families face on daily basis. Dr. Gilmartin discusses the stages of hypervigilance. And the long-term effects of hypervigilance and the toll it takes on the officer and his or her family.

This evidence proves that there is not just one factor that causes officer stress, but there are many elements that create officer stress. According to the National Institute of Justice, “Enduring stress for a long period of time can lead to anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)”. “PTSD is a psychological condition marked by an inability to be intimate, inability to sleep, increased nightmares, and increased feelings of guilt and reliving the even”. This evidence proves that if agencies don’t take a more proactive approach in ensuring that correctional officers have the resources available to assist in helping them manage their stress, then officers can occur a more serious psychological issue. Post-traumatic stress not only affects the officer, but it affects the family members of the

Stress happens to everyone and it is usually not seen as something so serious. Police officers usually have higher stress levels due to the fact that people’s safety are in their hands. Historically, law enforcement agencies did not recognize the seriousness of the high levels of stress, and police officers were forced to deal with it on their own. When assistance was finally available, most officers chose not to seek help because it would make them seem weak. However, Police stress needs to be taken into consideration as a serious matter, and even several studies have shown that police fatigue has similar effects as those alcohol. To Police officers, stress caused by the job can sometimes be overwhelming. This can affect their

Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement by Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. is a book that seeks to inform and instruct those seeking to be in law enforcement, law enforcement professionals and their families of the realities of a career in law enforcement- professionally and personally. And how to best prepare for emotional survival of “on-duty and off-duty” life. It also compares and contrasts what happens to officers at the beginning of this journey and what typical happens to officers overtime; focusing mainly on what happens to officers that don’t know the techniques of emotional survival. Though it

Although some officers do not seek or receive help and never end up developing PTSD, there are some officers that receive treatment that doesn’t come close to helping. After traumatic events occur while on the job, police departments need to implement treatment so that the officers involved can relieve their overwhelming feeling after the event, “if this is not discharged, then people become habitually distanced from their emotions, and do not have the full range of emotional breadth and depth (Rese and Smith 274)”. This is where departments fail, by dismissing trauma counseling and overlooking the seriousness the effects some of these calls and events that their officers go through only hurt the department in the long run. If an officer doesn’t receive the therapy or debriefing after an event they can lash out, use excessive amount of force in the future while on the job or even at home that can result in an investigation or law suit on the

The lack of formalized data recording specific to first responders on and off duty incidents, and the lack of a formal definition of first responder culture. The term first responder culture is a broad term that encompasses many aspects of related psychology and operations. Police culture varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and the unique requirements of the communities in which first responders serve. Additionally culture can splinter into subcultures as assignments and missions within the department can vary. Defining first responder culture is significant in terms of how first responders process and mitigate job related stress in terms of psychological trauma. Though missions and demands placed on first responders vary, some similarities in first responder culture i.e. stress management, and help seeking behaviors. The cultural aspects of stress management and psychological conditioning for first responders can be traced back to basic training received as an entry level employee, and reinforced through on the job training and

The Book Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement by Dr. Kevin M. Gilmartin is a guide for officers and their families on the journey through law enforcement and how to coop with the ever demanding job officers face. This book discussed the demands of the job and how officers change throughout the course of their career. I will elaborate on several factors that were discussed in the book and how officers, with the proper training, can help combat the stress of the high demand place on them.

Emotional Survival For Law Enforcement by Kevin M. Gilmartin, is not a book that sugar coats the reality of policing but is written in a way to help police officers and those who want to understand the job. Not everyone is familiar with why police officers act the way they do and reading Kevin Gilmartin’s book provides an insider in the daily lives of police officers, the dangers the job and how it affects their families. The first chapters started off explaining the excitement of new recruits or those entering the academy. These young men and women are excited for the new opportunities coming their way but it is not all excitement. Their lives are all about policing and even their friends are fellow officers; they lose friends outside the

United States Law Enforcement officers are constantly under pressure. Their job requires them to serve and protect mankind, under any circumstances, at all times. Because of this, officers run the risk of putting themselves in harmful situation. This may include apprehending a violent assailant, or entering harmful locations. In this study, I used books and articles such as, Criminal Justice Today, to get an understanding of the dangers Law Enforcement Officer face in the line of duty. When performing task outside the prescient, office4rs are put into dangerous situations because of their surroundings, offender’s actions, and officer mistakes. Due to the high stress of this job, it not only affects their performance, but their health as well.

Officers often explained the woman’s victimization to be the result of her own behavior and describe her as the instigator or cause of the ‘misunderstanding’ (Wetendorf, D. and Davis, D.L. 2003:3). The responding officer would therefore fail to treat the wife as a victim who required police intervention but would redefine the situation as one of “an Officer in Need” (Dwetendorf, 1998:4). As Dwetendorf (1998:5) puts it, “the responding officers are likely to try to dissuade her from signing a complaint. They advise her to think about his career, think about all the good things she has, think about their kids. They assure her that he’s a good man and a good police officer, that he’s just under a lot of stress. They promise to talk to him, to straighten him out.”

Performing well under distressing circumstances is not easy. Yet in a few callings, it can be of fundamental significance that one has the capacity do as such. Case in point, when police officers are confronted with a furnished and hazardous attacker, they are required to act rapidly and viably to shield themselves and other individuals from damage. Getting included in such circumstances is unpleasant (Anderson, Litzenberger, and Plecas, 2002). Although police officers are required to perform well under stressful circumstances, a

In addition, police officer exposed to high levels of stress relate to their job have been at an increased risk for adverse health problems, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, (Grant & Terry, 2012).

As crime coexists with humanity, the presence of the police force ensures the suppression of crime and the safety for our society. Every occupation has its own work stress. What is unique is all the different stress found in one job. Aside from the heroic services police officers perform in their duty, they experience overwhelming stress in their daily duty. Police stress refers to the negative pressures related to police work (Police Stress, n.d.). In order to maintain peace and order, there must be an effective police force up and running. For that to happen, departments need to be aware and deal with the negative effects caused by police stress. Whereas, police officers must conquer their stress in order to work at their

“Prevention of traumatic stress in law enforcement personnel: A cursory look at the roles of peer support and critical incident stress management” adequately explains how mental health professionals, with the help of trained paraprofessionals, use crisis intervention theory to provide mental health support to law enforcement communities in order to reduce job-related stress and improve overall wellbeing. The following review will explain, how mental health providers, through the use of peer supports, have been able to break through the rigid boundaries historically established between the law enforcement and mental health communities. Crisis intervention techniques generated from crisis theory can help law enforcement officers’ deal with their reactions to a critical incident compounded with their constant exposure to gruesome scenes of human tragedies. Without mental health assistance, law enforcement officers can reach debilitating stress levels that not only affect job-performance but can also impact other areas of their lives, such as, their overall mental health, physical health, and their ability

The history of policing can be traced back to the beginning of time. When looking at the subject of police work there is a large culture and history that follows along with it. There are many topics that can be analyzed when identifying, and describing the elements and the significances that are associated with policing. A large element of the police job that plays a large factor in the work and attributes to the policing culture is the amount of stress that an office will face while performing on the job. Another part of the job that plays a large part in the culture