Mental Impacts

  • Stress

    Stress: “A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.” (Lexico by Oxford)

    There are two general categories of law enforcement stress (Violanti, et al., 2017):

    Job Content :

    Work Schedules

    Shift Work

    Long hours

    Overtime

    Court Work

    Traumatic Events

    Threats to Physical & Psychological Health

    Job Context :

    Organizational stressors or characteristics of the organization & behavior of individuals (e.g. bureaucracy & co-worker relations).

    A recent study found that among the top 5, 2 of the most frequently occurring stressors are:

    “Fellow officers not doing their job.”

    “Inadequate or poor quality equipment.”

    Organizational stressors contribute to depression, anxiety, burnout, suicidal ideation, along with other mental heath outcomes (Purba & Demou, 2019).

  • PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

    PTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder): is an anxiety problem that develops in some people after extremely traumatic events, such as combat, crime, accident or natural disaster (American Psychological Association). For law enforcement this could death or injury of a co-worker, mass casualty, suicide of a co-worker, or in the line of duty shooting.

    Some symptoms may include: (Patients & Families: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), 2020):

    Intrusive thoughts-i.e. repeated, involuntary memories; distressing dreams; or flashbacks of the traumatic event.

    Avoiding reminders of traumatic events-i.e. people, places, activates, objects or situations.

    Negative thoughts or feelings-i.e. ongoing and distorted beliefs about self or others, ongoing fear, horror, anger, guilt or shame, or feeling detached or estranged.

    Arousal and reactive symptoms-i.e. being irritable and having angry outburst, behaving recklessly or in a self-destructive way, being easily startled; or having problems concentrating or sleeping.

  • Depression

    Depression is a common and (can be) serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act (Patients & Families: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Depression), 2020). Most common and treatable.

    Some symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:(Patients & Families: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Depression), 2020):

    Feeling sad or having a depressed mood.

    Loss of interest of pleasure in activates once enjoyed.

    Change in appetite-weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting.

    Loss of energy or fatigue.

    Feeling worthless or guilty.

    Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions.

    Thoughts of death or suicide.