The Role Of PTSD In The Police Department

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.

Each year law enforcement officers throughout the county are involved in shootings, some of them fatal. Frequently the shootings are reported by the media, which exploits the feelings of the victim while ignoring the effect of the shooting on the police officer. It is “estimated that approximately 87 percent of all emergency service personnel will experience a critical incident at least once in their career, which include officer-involved shootings” (Kureczka, 2002, p. 18). Officer-involved shootings have a profound effect on not only the officer involved but also their spouses, families, and the departments they serve. Law enforcement officers that are involved in officer-involved shootings need support and assistance such as critical incident stress debriefing and sometimes long-term trauma recover therapy in order to cope and live successful lives beyond the critical incident of the shooting.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD is an emotional condition that can develop following a terrifying or traumatic event.

Suicide among police officers is a dramatic example of what can happen when those entrusted with the protection of others fail to protect and care for themselves (Suicide and the Police Officer, 2006). Police officers tend to create an identify for themselves in order to seem powerful, in-charge, and unwavering in the line of duty, when in reality the persona that they create can lead to officers breaking down physically and mentally (McCord 368). After an officer joins the police force, they are expected to accept the fact that there will be violence and trauma in their line of work. There are no mental health checkpoints that officers are required to meet in order to continue working in these stressful conditions, forcing

Gilmartin also discusses and describes the psychological impact the officers suffer from being exposed to frequent tramatic events. Being enthralled in violent events and the victims of crimes would have an impact on anyone.

Today, hundreds of thousands of service men and women and recent military veterans have seen combat. Many have been shot at, seen their buddies killed, or witnessed death up close. These are types of events that can lead to Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. “) Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event can be diagnosed with PTSD but research shows, military men and women are more susceptible to having PTSD (PTSD: A Growing Epidemic.) And, with little help from the US, many Veterans do not get the help they need or get treated for PTSD. Military men and women begin to

PTSD, or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of a life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood. Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. However, some people will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. These individuals may develop PTSD. People who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached or estranged, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person’s daily life.

In the average person’s life seeing someone who had died in a car accident, been murdered, or committed suicide would be traumatic event that they would distinctly remember for the rest of their lives. Police officers encounter these type of events on a regular basis. Seeing those type of events and more go beyond just stress. These are traumatic events that wear on officers over time and can have serious negative mental health effects. In 2008 there were 141 officer suicides, in 2009 there were 143, and then another 126 in 2012. In the last six months on 2015 there were 51 police officer suicides. These numbers are well above the national average for suicides. There are many years where more officers take their own lives then are taking while in the line of duty and most years they are at least similar in numbers. It’s truly a tragedy that officers are as likely to kill themselves as to be killed by criminals. What is possibly most frightening about all of this isn’t just the high number of suicides, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, it’s the even higher number of officers who are currently at risk to become suicidal themselves. For every officer suicide there are at least another 1000 officers currently suffering from some symptoms of PTSD.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a mental health condition that is generally classified as an anxiety disorder. It is often caused by a traumatic events or emotional trauma in one’s life that leads to terrifying flashbacks, nightmares and extreme anxiety. The main cause of this disorder is the conscious and subconscious fear-memories that have developed. In essence the ‘fight or flight” response that we all have is severely damaged, even when not in a stressful or dangerous situation those suffering from PTSD may feel stressed and in danger.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual's ability to cope. As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen acute stress response. Diagnostic

When one goes through a stressful and traumatic ordeal, some individuals develop an anxiety disorder known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Although there are treatments available for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, its broad array of symptoms makes it a difficult condition to treat. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health condition often caused by some form of traumatic event. PTSD takes a toll on both your mental health and sometimes your social and physical interactions with other individuals.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that can occur after a traumatic event, such as a threat to life, serious injury, or sexual violence. Some people who experience these types of events may develop PTSD. Sometimes, PTSD can occur in people who hear about trauma that occurs to a close family member or friend. PTSD can happen to anyone at any age.

Individuals in public safety, and specifically those employed in the field of law enforcement face a higher risk of experiencing traumatic events or critical incidents than the average citizen (Lansing, Amen, Hanks, & Rudy, 2005). The exposure to these traumatic events sometimes results in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); onset of PTSD is sometimes delayed and only manifests after exposure to multiple traumatic events (Lansing et al., 2005). Post-traumatic stress disorder is classified as an anxiety disorder, development of which is generally in response to exceptionally terrifying events that often are life threatening to the person or other people, or entail the risk of serious bodily injury (McNally, 2006; Ramage

While policing is a necessity in our society today, while to some it can be worthwhile experience for most, with the various negative factors that attribute to this profession will lead to stress, fatigue, then without some form of treatment can lead to a burnout which can result in officers participating destructive behavior. In the modern police agency there are various factors which contribute to the negative impact on officer which include stress, fatigue, and labor relations. When asked which we find as the most significant impact on officers would have to be stress due to the various problems which stem from it. The textbook defines stress as “Anything that places a positive or negative adjudicative demand on an organism” (Schmalleger

Police work is considered one of the most stressful and taxing occupations of today’s society. The duties and responsibilities of policemen and women are put into place in order to keep the community and its inhabitants as safe and organized as possible. With that, police officers are required to work grueling hours, deal with noncompliance among individuals, and respond to potentially very dangerous incidents everyday. The frequent exposure to these high stress events causes a numerous amount of police officers to develop a weakened mental status as well as impaired physical distress. As a result, the mental and or physical traumas these men and women are experiencing may affect their ability to perform in the field. In order to ensure the safety of both the community and these police officers, it is essential for one to analyze and acknowledge the stressors causing these impairments. Recognizing these stressors, as well as the positive and negative coping mechanisms that come with them, may help to minimize and avoid the mental and physical pressures that are currently happening in the police force.