• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Subscribe to the Magazine
American Police Beat

American Police Beat Magazine

Law Enforcement Publication

  • Home
  • Editor’s Picks
    • The power of teamwork
      Stay awake and alert on the job
      The worst rank in law enforcement
      Firearms maintenance
      Why fries need salt
  • Topics
    • On the Job
      • Michigan police officer and bystanders hailed as heroes after...
        Florida police officers recount heroic rescue of 3-year-old boy...
        Semi-truck collides with South Dakota police cruiser during winter...
        Florida 9-1-1 dispatcher guides family member through CPR after...
        NYPD officer rappels down skyscraper to save man from jumping to his...
    • Labor
      • LAPD “accidentally” leaks personal information of undercover...
        LAPD union proposes police stop responding to non-emergency calls
        Florida’s recruitment program lures Chicago police officers to the...
        Staffing shortages plague Cleveland police as record number leave the...
        New Orleans interim police chief aims to hire civilians in time for...
    • Tech
      • New Jersey turns to license plate reader technology to address rise...
        One of country’s oldest cold cases solved with DNA from untested...
        Crypto crime investigations
        Austin Police Department launches non-emergency artificial...
        iPhone crash detection feature helps deputies rescue driver from canal
    • Training
      • New N.J. emergency service officers ready to respond in times of...
        Working effectively in low light
        Realism and stress inoculation in training
        Avoiding conflict and escalation
        U.S. trails in police training
    • Policy
      • Oregon law enforcement and retailers seek to combat organized...
        Utah bill aims to regulate how law enforcement uses genetic genealogy...
        Opposing POVs on permit-less carry
        Ohio bill would lower minimum age to become a police officer to 18 to...
        Utah bill would allow people with “invisible conditions” to alert...
    • Health/Wellness
      • Thinking of pulling the pin on retirement?
        Expanding your identity
        Nonprofit offers telehealth therapy to upstate New York first...
        A California police department’s new wellness unit aims to improve...
        Massachusetts police department prioritizes officers’ mental health...
    • Community
      • “Tennis brings us all together”: NYPD officers bond with youth...
        First responders share love of reading with children for Read Across...
        Colorado Springs police kick off annual soccer ball giveaway to bond...
        “These are beautiful animals”: Community members gift horses to...
        Central Texas nonprofit to open law enforcement museum in honor of...
    • Offbeat
      • Ohio police rescue man from brutal zebra attack
        Motorist stranded in Oregon wilderness without cell phone reception...
        Cincinnati police work with animal rescuers to capture exotic cat...
        Not UFOs: Police departments across the country receive 9-1-1 calls...
        Texas deputy detains runaway tortoise after “slowest foot...
    • We Remember
      • New Jersey girl supports first responders through Running 4 Heroes...
        Law enforcement from across the country join seventh annual Fallen...
        Boone County holds fifth annual Jacob Pickett Remembrance Day to...
        Farewell to a “living legend”: Oldest law enforcement officer in...
        “Officer Becerra will never be forgotten”: Colorado police...
  • On the Job
    • Michigan police officer and bystanders hailed as heroes after...
      Florida police officers recount heroic rescue of 3-year-old boy...
      Semi-truck collides with South Dakota police cruiser during winter...
      Florida 9-1-1 dispatcher guides family member through CPR after...
      NYPD officer rappels down skyscraper to save man from jumping to his...
  • Labor
    • LAPD “accidentally” leaks personal information of undercover...
      LAPD union proposes police stop responding to non-emergency calls
      Florida’s recruitment program lures Chicago police officers to the...
      Staffing shortages plague Cleveland police as record number leave the...
      New Orleans interim police chief aims to hire civilians in time for...
  • Tech
    • New Jersey turns to license plate reader technology to address rise...
      One of country’s oldest cold cases solved with DNA from untested...
      Crypto crime investigations
      Austin Police Department launches non-emergency artificial...
      iPhone crash detection feature helps deputies rescue driver from canal
  • Training
    • New N.J. emergency service officers ready to respond in times of...
      Working effectively in low light
      Realism and stress inoculation in training
      Avoiding conflict and escalation
      U.S. trails in police training
  • Policy
    • Oregon law enforcement and retailers seek to combat organized...
      Utah bill aims to regulate how law enforcement uses genetic genealogy...
      Opposing POVs on permit-less carry
      Ohio bill would lower minimum age to become a police officer to 18 to...
      Utah bill would allow people with “invisible conditions” to alert...
  • Health/Wellness
    • Thinking of pulling the pin on retirement?
      Expanding your identity
      Nonprofit offers telehealth therapy to upstate New York first...
      A California police department’s new wellness unit aims to improve...
      Massachusetts police department prioritizes officers’ mental health...
  • Community
    • “Tennis brings us all together”: NYPD officers bond with youth...
      First responders share love of reading with children for Read Across...
      Colorado Springs police kick off annual soccer ball giveaway to bond...
      “These are beautiful animals”: Community members gift horses to...
      Central Texas nonprofit to open law enforcement museum in honor of...
  • Offbeat
    • Ohio police rescue man from brutal zebra attack
      Motorist stranded in Oregon wilderness without cell phone reception...
      Cincinnati police work with animal rescuers to capture exotic cat...
      Not UFOs: Police departments across the country receive 9-1-1 calls...
      Texas deputy detains runaway tortoise after “slowest foot...
  • We Remember
    • New Jersey girl supports first responders through Running 4 Heroes...
      Law enforcement from across the country join seventh annual Fallen...
      Boone County holds fifth annual Jacob Pickett Remembrance Day to...
      Farewell to a “living legend”: Oldest law enforcement officer in...
      “Officer Becerra will never be forgotten”: Colorado police...
  • Between the Lines
    • The imprisonment of law enforcement technology
      Persecution of the LEO is classic schadenfreude
      The rule of law is worthless without order
      School policing: a paradox of the defund movement
      Defending the honor of the LE profession – finally!
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Search

Health/Wellness

Post-traumatic stress: causes, symptoms and ways to heal

Dan Willis Published March 24, 2021 @ 9:00 am PDT

iStock.com/ligonpix

Post-traumatic stress is an injury, not a weakness. It is not a mental disease or disorder, but a serious and potentially life-threatening injury to your brain and its ability to recover and return to optimal functioning after experiencing work traumas. It’s never about what is wrong with you, but always about what has happened to you. 

The good news that offers hope to every officer is that, as an injury, post-traumatic stress can be healed. Anyone suffering from it has the potential to fully recover, or at least learn how to manage their symptoms and regain control over their life — leading to post-traumatic growth, where the officer develops enhanced resiliency, increased capacity to recover and to help others, and improved quality of life.

Suffering in silence

The daily traumas of police work can not only injure your brain (PTSD) but can kill you (suicide, our number one cause of death). According to some studies, 19% of officers and dispatchers have significant post-traumatic stress. Other studies suggest that approximately 34% suffer symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress, but do not meet the standards for the full diagnosis. 

Police agencies must create wellness initiatives, wellness programs and peer support teams while reinforcing a culture of wellness and resiliency so that officers and dispatchers no longer suffer in silence, fearful of seeking help. Our profession must get to the point where it is not only all right to ask for help, but also expected that you will do so during your career.

Suffering in silence while trying to outlast the symptoms, hoping they’ll eventually just go away, kills more officers than anything else. The weakness lies in not seeking help when there are proven, effective ways to heal from post-traumatic stress, such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), which will be discussed in an upcoming article. Having the courage to tell someone, “Something’s going on inside me that I don’t like, and I might need some help” can save your life.

Post-traumatic growth results from developing the positive mindset that every challenging moment was an opportunity for you to intentionally choose your character and practice resiliency.

How many…? The cause and cumulative effects

We’re all vulnerable. Every officer, dispatcher, supervisor and commander is susceptible to suffering internal, invisible injuries to their brain due to their daily work traumas. 

Trauma is any experience with the potential to affect you in a significant, negative way over a long period of time. How many dead babies can you see without it having a lasting effect? How many mangled bodies in fatal collisions? How many suicides, while seeing all the different ways people find to kill themselves? How many acts of violence can you witness, how many child molestation cases, victims who’ve suffered terribly? How many critical incidents, dangerous situations, life-threatening events can you experience before your brain is affected?

Every one of these experiences has an effect, some more than others. And the effects of trauma are cumulative; they can continue to increase until your brain becomes overburdened, altering its ability to function normally — that’s the injury.

Cumulative post-traumatic stress is caused by prolonged and repeated exposure to traumas and extreme stress rather than one particular incident, such as a shooting. The effects, however, are no less devastating for the officers and dispatchers affected. In fact, more officers suffer from post-traumatic stress who were never in a shooting or anything horrific; they were just doing their job, falsely believing that they had gotten used to all the trauma. 

Symptoms and warning signs

There are a multitude of post-traumatic stress symptoms and warning signs. Any one of them is serious and needs to be addressed as soon as possible to prevent it from getting worse. 

Since symptoms can be similar to a slowly progressing cancer, officers tend to be the last to recognize them. So, if a loved one or co-worker says you don’t seem like yourself lately, believe them. Understanding that some may only develop a few symptoms while others have many, and knowing that symptoms are experienced in various degrees of severity, increases our ability to recognize the need for help in ourselves, as well as others.

Symptoms of being affected by trauma include lack of good sleep; nightmares; suppressed or impaired memory; difficulty focusing, thinking clearly and making good decisions; flashbacks or reliving events; anxiety; distress; always being tired; depression; risk-taking behaviors; feelings of helplessness; becoming increasingly irritable; anger or rage; unable to feel or feeling numb or dead inside; drinking too much and other substance abuse; difficulty communicating; isolating yourself; becoming uninvolved, detached, disengaged and disinterested; unable to be your “normal” self; seeing things that aren’t real; uncontrollable emotions; and suicidal ideation.

The easiest way to tell if someone is having an issue with a critical incident or cumulative trauma is to ask them to talk about it. If they have a difficult time talking about it, there’s a very good chance they’re having other symptoms as well.

Ways to heal

In police work, it’s inevitable that traumatic, stressful and sometimes horrific things will happen to you. What’s essential is your preparation and your response. 

Officers and dispatchers need to daily practice wellness initiatives to strengthen resiliency and to enhance wellness in mind, body, emotions and spirit. Every call matters to your overall wellness and offers the opportunity for you to choose to practice resiliency, choose your character, practice wellness, be useful and helpful while deciding to do good and be the good amid all the bad. 

Every good, positive, compassionate, helpful and constructive thing we do will tend to reduce the effects of cumulative traumas.

How family members and friends can help

  • Listen carefully. Support without judging, pressuring to be “normal” or condemning.
  • Spend time with you and reassure you.
  • Give you some private time, but not leave you in long isolation.
  • Don’t take your reactions personally.
  • Tell and show you that they are there for you.
  • Don’t tell you to “Just get over it.”
  • Support, care, comfort and nurture.

Things to try after experiencing trauma

  • Do physical exercise.
  • Practice mindfulness meditation (which will be detailed in an upcoming article).
  • Structure and plan your time; keep busy and maintain an active, normal schedule.
  • Remember, you’re normal and having normal reactions to trauma; you’re not losing your mind.
  • alk to others and express what you are experiencing — talk is one of the most healing medicines.
  • Do not numb the pain and confusion with alcohol or other substances.
  • Keep doing things that you enjoy, whether you have the energy or feel like it or not.
  • Try to get plenty of sleep and rest.
  • Make as many daily decisions for yourself as you can.
  • Eat well-balanced and regular meals (even if you don’t feel like it).
  • Tell your spouse/life partner what you want and need from them; don’t struggle alone or in silence, and don’t expect them to know what to do.
  • If symptoms and uneasiness do not subside, seek help from a trauma specialist, preferably one who practices EMDR (visit EMDRIA.org).

Post-traumatic growth

Post-traumatic growth is a positive personality change or transformation following traumatic events that leads to greater resiliency, improved health and enhanced quality of life. 

It results from developing the positive mindset that every challenging moment happened for you. It was an opportunity for you to practice coping, for you to intentionally choose your character, and for you to practice and engage resiliency. It’s seeing every challenging thing that ever happens to you as allowing you to practice and build wisdom in order to learn a life lesson from it, so you can later help someone else who goes through the same thing.

If you look at the challenges of life and work in that way, then every difficult thing, every unfair thing, every horrible, negative thing only shows up to make you better, more useful, helpful and understanding. Intentionally training your mind to reframe your challenges so that you always believe that there’s good, even if sometimes you’re the only good, better equips you to transcend the severities of certain traumas.

There is always hope and opportunity to heal from traumas. When we allow others to know our inner struggles and are open to the many ways for healing, life gets better.

Dan Willis

Dan Willis

Captain Dan Willis (ret.) served for 30 years with the La Mesa Police Department and now is an international instructor on police trauma and ways to heal (www.FirstResponderWellness.com). He is the author of the emotional survival and wellness guidebook Bulletproof Spirit: The First Responders Essential Resource for Protecting and Healing Mind and Heart, which is required reading at the FBI National Academy. 

View articles by Dan Willis

As seen in the March 2021 issue of American Police Beat magazine.
Don’t miss out on another issue today! Click below:

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Categories: Health/Wellness

Primary Sidebar

Recent Articles

  • Michigan police officer and bystanders hailed as heroes after rescuing victims in fiery car crash
  • LAPD “accidentally” leaks personal information of undercover officers to watch-dog group
  • Florida police officers recount heroic rescue of 3-year-old boy trapped in sinking car
  • Semi-truck collides with South Dakota police cruiser during winter storm
  • Florida 9-1-1 dispatcher guides family member through CPR after toddler almost drowns
  • NYPD officer rappels down skyscraper to save man from jumping to his death
  • New Jersey girl supports first responders through Running 4 Heroes program
  • Indiana K-9 unit recognized with national Medal of Valor
  • “I thank God for putting us at the right place at the right time”: Wisconsin police officers save choking child
  • National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Announces February 2023 Officer of the Month

Footer

Our Mission
To serve as a trusted voice of the nation’s law enforcement community, providing informative, entertaining and inspiring content on interesting and engaging topics affecting peace officers today.

Contact us: info@apbweb.com | (800) 234-0056.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Categories

  • Editor’s Picks
  • On the Job
  • Labor
  • Tech
  • Training
  • Policy
  • Health/Wellness
  • Community
  • Offbeat
  • We Remember
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Events

Editor’s Picks

The power of teamwork

The power of teamwork

July 23, 2021

Stay awake and alert on the job

Stay awake and alert on the job

July 20, 2021

The worst rank in law enforcement

The worst rank in law enforcement

July 19, 2021

Firearms maintenance

Firearms maintenance

July 04, 2021

Privacy Policy | Your Privacy Options | Notice at Collection | Copyright © 2023 APB Media, LLC | Website design, development and maintenance by 911MEDIA

Open

Subscribe

Close

Receive the latest news and updates from American Police Beat directly to your inbox!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.