Posted: June 28th, 2022

Police PTSD

1. Watch
Police PTSD (Graphic Warning) (Links to an external site.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j00XI0I8eUA

2. After viewing the video respond to the following:

What is PTSD?
How prevalent is it in police work?
What are the main points of the video?

The written reaction should be 3 pages in length in a WORD document. Be sure to adhere to Help write my thesis – APA format (to include a cover page, proper formatting, in-text citations, and a reference page). Your response should be thoughtful and concise. The 3-page minimum does not include the cover page or works cited page.
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Police PTSD
Name
Institutional Affiliation
PTSD Among the Police
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that may happen in individuals that have seen or experienced a traumatic or terrifying event that involved severe physical harm or threat. The disorder happens as a lasting consequence of the traumatic ordeals, making the individual experience intense fear, horror, or helplessness. Most individuals that have experienced a traumatic event will show reactions that could involve being shocked, angered, nervous, fearful, and even guilty. However, these reactions will go after some time. Conversely, for an individual with PTSD, the feelings do not stop but instead continue and intensify to the point of stopping the individual from living their life as expected (WebMD, 2003). The persons living with PTSD will experience more than a month, which impedes their normal functioning before the triggering event.
The police are fundamental workers in society as their work entails maintaining law, peace, and order in their respective communities. Nonetheless, this work’s nature is inherently stressful, with the police having to face triggering events that could lead to PTSD continually. As a police officer, the individual will need to handle being shot at by weaponed individuals that others could end up injured or even dead, they have to handle children that have been injured, abused, and even killed, and motor vehicle accidents which will also include injury or death for the occupants or passers-by (Preston, 2013). They deal with suicide incidents in the community. These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that the injuries or death could also happen to their colleagues, which leaves them heavily affected when they lose an individual in their line of duty. Police officers who are human beings like others will have to deal with situations that other human beings fear and run away from (Preston, 2013). Their duty is to run towards these situations to handle the worst, generally done at the risk of a personal cost.
The nature of their work will cause job-related stressors that tend police officers demonstrating absenteeism, job dissatisfaction, burnout, and even claims of compensation. These stressors increase the likelihood of mental and physical ailments among the officers, affecting their performance, quality of life, and early retirement. Nonetheless, PTSD remains one significant consequence of the police officers dealing with job-related stressors that include content traumatic events. Many officers tend to turn to alcohol abuse and substance abuse, including drugs, to reduce the pain and forget what they have seen in their work. Most of the time, the officers will feel guilty and depressed, choose to isolate themselves, have nightmares and night terrors, deal with panic attacks and flashbacks, and have relationship challenges that could lead to divorce (Preston, 2013). Unfortunately, a considerable percentage of the officers will not ask for help from even their closest families, which will lead to suicide. Suicide is considered the solution to handle intense emotional pain. In 2012 alone, suicide reports among the police were 126 (Preston, 2013). This illustrates the extent of the problem, meaning that a solution is required immediately.
Notably, as the video indicates, some suggest that the police need to learn to cope with these situations and not be affected (Preston, 2013). However, it is essential to note that regardless of the extensive training these people have undergone, they are still human beings who will still be affected by the things they face doing their jobs. The police officers will not demonstrate their emotions in front of the public, but it does not mean that they are not affected. At the time of making the video, 4-14% of police officers dealt with PTSD (Preston, 2013). However, all is not lost as the police officers need to take the first step to contact their counseling officers on the matter, and they will be directed on how to handle it effectively.
Nonetheless, other stakeholders, including police organizations and the community, need to have their methods of assisting officers dealing with PTSD. Considering that some of them will always show a strong face, families, and communities can quickly know when officers have changed their interactions and job performance. PTSD will always affect other aspects of an individual. Therefore, it is prudent that others are also vigilant in checking up on officers within their communities. In case an officer is seen not to be okay, the members could approach them and offer solutions before the challenges of becoming an extensive thing. Police organizations could also have organized counseling sessions for their officers to meet as a group and discuss how the job is affecting them. These groups should be tailored so that the officers feel free to share the challenges and discussions ensue on how they could handle them. Police officers need to have a sense of belonging to a family or community or an association, which will see individuals find better ways of dealing with PTSD.

References
Preston, L. (2013). Police PTSD (Graphic Warning) [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j00XI0I8eUA
WebMD. (2003, February 10). Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder#1

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