PTSD and Traumatic Stress in Law Enforcement Officers

Introduction: Traumatic Stress and PTSD in Policing

There is a meaningful connection between traumatic stress experienced by officers on duty and the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, as Chopko, Palmieri, and Adams (2018) demonstrate in their study of nearly 200 law enforcement officers. While the connection appears evident, the nature of symptom onset differs, as does the manner in which positive growth following the onset of PTSD occurs. This should not be surprising, as Chopko and Schwartz (2012) illustrate in an earlier study, because the correlation of career traumatization and symptomatology among active-duty officers is diverse and dependent upon a number of variables, such as personal relationships and the level of threat faced while on the job.

What exactly defines a threat on the job is also different according to the perspective of the individual officer. Andersen and Papazoglou (2014) demonstrate that "interactions with a member of a different cultural group is often defined by threat and anxiety" (p. 182). In a multicultural society, cross-group threats may be more common for some officers than for others—but individual officers may also view some environments as more threatening than others might. Perception, background, experience, culture, and ethnicity can all play a part in the extent to which a threat is felt. This variability may help explain why Weiss, Brunet, Best, et al. (2010) found only a modest relationship between stressful or traumatic incidents and PTSD symptoms in officers.

PTSD Symptoms and Their Impact on Police Performance

Indications of a relationship between PTSD and the traumatic stress of officers have been documented in police departments. Indeed, one of the greatest threats facing police is the effect of PTSD, as it can cause officers to lose the ability to interact appropriately with colleagues, peers, family members, and community members (Andersen & Papazoglou, 2014; Chopko et al., 2018). PTSD typically arises following a traumatic experience, and the main symptoms appear when the individual is faced with stress related to that experience in its wake (Chopko & Schwartz, 2012; Plat, Westerveld, Hutter, et al., 2013).

The stress can be substantially debilitating and can impair an officer from performing law enforcement duties. For this reason, officers who routinely or frequently encounter traumatic experiences tend to show high rates of PTSD (Plat et al., 2013). However, there is no straightforward way of evaluating which types of incidents pose a traumatic risk for any given officer. Car accidents, murders, deaths, rapes, drug crime, and violent assault—all of these, or none of these, might pose a risk to certain officers; the literature on what causes PTSD in this population remains limited.

Consequences for Police-Community Relations

The effects of PTSD and the hazards of policing can place significant strain on police-community relations. Officers may become reluctant to engage with the public, and the public may become reluctant to engage with officers. As a result, both sides fail to connect with one another. Police officers can struggle to cope with the stress they are experiencing, and administrators can struggle to identify the underlying causes of those symptoms (Chopko et al., 2018).

Being aware of how police officers can be negatively impacted by stressful on-duty environments is important for knowing how to treat officers in the aftermath of traumatic experiences. Cone, Li, Kornblith, et al. (2015) show that a tentative link exists between traumatic experiences and the onset of PTSD in police officers: officers who experience a catastrophic incident while on duty are at greater risk of developing PTSD, according to their study of officers who assisted during the tragedy of September 11, 2001 in New York City. The negative effects that those officers experienced in the wake of that catastrophe stemmed from the development of PTSD symptoms. While 9/11 would meet anyone's criteria for a catastrophe, other incidents in the line of duty that are less sensationally extreme may still function as catastrophic events for certain officers. Understanding this, however, requires more information on the subject.

What is certain from a review of the literature is that the breakdown of police-community relations as a result of PTSD can lead people to avoid law enforcement altogether. This compounds an already sensitive situation, leading officers to experience additional strain and stress on top of the PTSD symptoms they are already managing (Chopko et al., 2018). Martin and Martin (2017) point out that police officers suffering from PTSD can become so depressed and dissatisfied with their mental health that they may turn to suicide as the only perceived way out of their suffering. This is especially tragic because, as Plat et al. (2013) indicate, treatments are available: it is a matter of first recognizing the symptoms and then understanding how to conduct the right intervention for the right person. Knowing when to monitor officers and how to assess them following a particularly severe incident on the job could be a meaningful step toward preventing PTSD from escalating to police suicide (Martin & Martin, 2017). Preventing PTSD is, ultimately, the first step, and doing so requires understanding the conditions and environments that contribute to its onset.

Conclusion: Challenges in Treating Officer PTSD

The research shows that PTSD is a common disorder among police officers, and the symptoms can vary significantly from officer to officer. Likewise, the causes of PTSD can vary from officer to officer and from situation to situation. For every traumatic experience a police officer encounters, there is a unique story that needs to be addressed individually. There are no blanket treatments or interventions that work for all officers—each one must be approached individually with a treatment plan appropriate to their specific circumstances (Martin & Martin, 2017).

The challenges facing counselors and therapists who treat officers are numerous and depend on the ability to: (1) identify symptoms at an early stage; (2) enlist the help of the officers themselves in forming a diagnosis; (3) discover the underlying trauma so that it can be addressed in counseling sessions; and (4) erase the stigma associated with mental health conditions among officers. This last challenge can be one of the most difficult to overcome, as the culture of policing celebrates bravery, courage, strength, and heroism. For an officer to admit that care is needed to bring their emotions and mental state to a healthy level is, within that culture, to admit vulnerability (Andersen & Papazoglou, 2014). The culture of policing does not generally celebrate or honor vulnerability, and this dynamic can also play a significant role in determining how effectively PTSD symptoms are treated in this field.

References

Andersen, J. P., & Papazoglou, K. (2014). Friends under fire: Cross-cultural relationships and trauma exposure among police officers. Traumatology, 20(3), 182–190. doi:10.1037/h0099403

Chopko, B. A., & Schwartz, R. C. (2012). Correlates of career traumatization and symptomatology among active-duty police officers. Criminal Justice Studies, 25(1), 83–95. doi:10.1080/1478601X.2012.657905

Chopko, B. A., Palmieri, P. A., & Adams, R. E. (2018). Relationships among traumatic experiences, PTSD, and posttraumatic growth for police officers: A path analysis. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 10(2), 183–189. doi:10.1037/tra0000261

Cone, J. E., Li, J., Kornblith, E., Gocheva, V., Stellman, S. D., Shaikh, A., ... & Bowler, R. M. (2015). Chronic probable PTSD in police responders in the World Trade Center Health Registry ten to eleven years after 9/11. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 58(5), 483–493.

Martin, T. K., & Martin, R. H. (2017). Police suicide and PTSD: Connection, prevention, and trends. Law Enforcement Executive Forum, 17(2), 27–42.

Plat, M. J., Westerveld, G. J., Hutter, R. C., Olff, M., Frings-Dresen, M. H., & Sluiter, J. K. (2013). Return to work: Police personnel and PTSD. Work, 46(1), 107–111. doi:10.3233/WOR-121578

Weiss, D. S., Brunet, A., Best, S. R., Metzler, T. J., Liberman, A., Pole, N., ... & Marmar, C. R. (2010). Frequency and severity approaches to indexing exposure to trauma: The Critical Incident History Questionnaire for police officers. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23(6), 734–743.