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Police officer mental health essay
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So now that we have gone over some issues that our fine men and women face today does that mean we will all suffer these effects? Absolutely not. Some research had been done to prove that posttraumatic growth (PTG) is a positive change that can be experienced after traumatic events (Bonanno, 2004; Grubaugh & Resick, 2007; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). This study shows that officers have better personal relationships, reformed priorities, increased their personal strength and became more involved spiritually. Departments are implementing health plans and requirements to keep officers in shape. Agencies are offering officers the chance to speak with professionals after traumatic events to help them cope with what they have encountered. Law enforcement
When we picture the United States Military we regard men and women in uniform fighting for our country. However, what we do not picture is the hidden problems. Stress of the job, members returning home from war, and combat create an increased stress level that can result in abusing substances and cause behavioral problems. The military has recognized that this has become a problem and is now taking steps to ensure their members safety.
The article under review is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the DSM-5: Controversy, Change, and Conceptual Considerations by Anushka Pai, Alina M. Suris, and Carol S. North in Behavioral Sciences. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault (U.S. Department VA, 2007). PTSD can happen to anyone and many factors can increase the possibility of developing PTSD that are not under the person’s own control. Symptoms of PTSD usually will start soon after the traumatic event but may not appear for months or years later. There are four types of symptoms of PTSD but may show in different
...manifest developmental, behavioral, and emotional problems. This implies the interpersonal nature of trauma and may explain the influence of veteran Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on the child’s development and eventual, long-term and long-lasting consequences for the child’s personality. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2525831).
In fact, most survivors of trauma return to normal given some little time. However, quite some personnel contain stress reactions, which do not go away on their own, or sometimes it gets worse over some time. Police officers that have had to suffer from PTSD often suffer from the flashbacks, nightmares, feeling emotionally numb and also have difficulty in sleeping. Such symptoms can impair on the person’s daily life. The law enforcement officers that suffer from PTSD often show some physical and psychological symptoms. Such symptoms involve depression, cognition and memory problems, substance abuse, and some other mental and physical health concerns. Such a disorder relates to challenges in the family or social life, including the family discord, mental problems, parenting issues and occupational instability (Rogers,
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is what Veterans using the VA Healthcare system refer to when discussing sexual harassment and sexual assault that takes place in military settings. “Much of the research literature with military veterans identifies the population of interest through the use of MST screening, for which a positive response can indicate a range of experiences, including rape, sexual Assault, experienced by the veteran during military service” (Street & Stafford, n.d.). Although most people focus the attention on women service members being the victims in a lot of the cases at VA clinics, “data indicates that 50% of survivors are actually men. For example, a 2011 review (Allard, Nunnink, Gregory, Klest, & Platt, 2011) of peer reviewed articles published up to December 2009 identified 74 articles focused on MST, but of those, only two articles focused on men only” (O’Brien, Keith, & Shoemaker, 2015). Sexual Trauma does not only occur during training or peacetime, the stress of war could be associated with rising rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment. “Research with Persian Gulf War military personnel conducted by Jessica Wolfe and colleagues found that rates of sexual assault (7%), physical sexual harassment (33%) and verbal sexual harassment (66%) were higher than those typically found in peacetime military samples” (Street & Stafford, n.d.). None the less, whether a service member is male or female or off to war vs training on US soil, the traumatic experience of falling victim to sexual assault forever change a person’s well-being. “Physical and sexual assault contribute to long-lasting physical and emotional suffering among men and women across the life span” (Bryan, McNaugton-Cassill, Osman, & Hernandez, 2013) therefor suicide rates are rising in sexual assault victims “because they adversely affect the victim’s sense of identity and self-worth, such that the victim begins to perceive him- or herself
Every day a man comes home from war. Most having left their families as boys or young men trained in tactics and combat but never being trained effectively on stress management or the dangers of PTSD. Going into war soldiers are instructed to choke it down and bury it deep. Once introduced back into civilian life, where emotions are acceptable and tactics are not the answer, how do these men survive? How do they learn to cope? And most importantly how does the U.S. government train them for the next portion of their lives? In October of 2001 Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF, began and since then over 1.8 million troops have served at least one term ("PTSD in Service Members and New Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars," 2009). The Veterans population has increased immensely since the war began in 2001 and the type of warfare witnessed is much different than that of any other previous war.
...sp; All members of the law enforcement community have an important role to play when it comes to evaluating, intervening, and treating trauma and addiction. When officers suffer the aftermath of trauma, they are not alone. Many officers may see themselves as weak or abnormal if they seek help, and believe that admitting psychological or emotional pain will result in disciplinary action and, perhaps, job dismissal. Not only do the officers suffer from their trauma but, importantly, their colleagues, the families they love, and the public they have sworn to protect and serve all suffer.
... communities that they live in. Furthermore if more efforts were made to prevent sexual assault against women in the first place were made, the number of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Cases would decrease. As more is learned about the implications that the environment can have on a victim of trauma, as well as the relationship between the mind and body, more can be learned about treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Children experience decreased development in the left brain when traumatic events occur (Network, n.d.). Imagine being a child and growing up with these types of events occurring. A traumatic event in a child’s life can cause a child to experience a long lasting negative effect. Life events are happening everywhere and more often in the lives of children (Understanding Child Traumatic Stress, n.d.). Trauma can cause them to do three things. First, they try to see what the danger is and how serious it is. Secondly there are strong emotional and physical reactions. Thirdly they attempt to come up with what to do that can help them with the danger. Traumatic events can cause a child to develop differently, which effects the young child stage,
In this paper I will be writing about the program Trauma Affect Regulation: Guide for Education and Therapy or also known as TARGET. This program is a manualized, trauma-focused psychotherapy for adolescents and/or adults suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. This program is rated EFFECTIVE on the crimesolutions.gov website. Their where significant reductions in measures of PTSD symptoms and anxiety for the treatment group compared to the control group. In this paper I will be going over the outcomes of the two main studies, who this program is for, and how it helps those in need of this program.
When service members come home, they are faced with many challenges. These challenges can be some of the hardest things they will have to go through. Fighting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, better known as PTSD. This can cause change people and their loved ones. But people are learning to live with it and to cope with the effects it can
Post traumatic stress disorder is a disorder in which fear and related symptoms continue to be experienced long after a traumatic event. This disorder is associated when someone who commits an act that is difficult to live with or when an individual sees a traumatic event done. Trauma that is experienced directly is the event that someone does something that is traumatic to their morals. For example, military personals who fought in a war find that when they get back home they still experience the trauma that happened to them on the battlefield. Trauma experienced vicariously is when an individual watches a tragedy happen. This type can have the same symptoms as trauma committed directly. Sometimes vicariously trauma is seeing another person
According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2006), a child’s response to traumatic stress can fluctuate dependent on their age, however many children present with indicators of significant distress. Some of these indicators may include disrupted sleep, challenges paying attention and concentrating, anger and irritability, withdrawal, repeated and intrusive thoughts, and acute distress when presented with any reminders of the traumatic event. Psychiatric disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and behavioral disorders may also develop in children and adolescents experiencing traumatic stress. Although some children manage adversity and appear to “bounce back (National Childhood Traumatic Stress Network, 2006),” experiencing traumatic events can significantly impact a child or adolescent’s development leading to long-term consequences. Those children and adolescents who experience repeated exposure to traumatic events can be effected biologically as trauma influences the brain and nervous system, therefore influencing academics, engagement in high risk behavior and family and peer relationships (National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2006).” According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2006), “traumatic stress can cause increased use of health and mental health services and increased involvement with the child welfare and juvenile justice
Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) describes the phenomenon of traumatized people growing – becoming stronger, healthier, happier, and in all aspects better – as a result of their traumatic experiences. PTG can be expressed as the improvement experienced in various facets of one’s life and self, as a result of having struggled with trauma. Calhoun and Tedeschi began asking, in the 1980s, about the possibility of people growing from their traumatic experiences. Tedeschi and Calhoun describe PTG as ‘positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances’. Put differently, ‘posttraumatic growth is positive change that the individual experiences as a result of the struggle with a traumatic event’. The end result is that growth can occur after trauma. The key to the growth is struggle; the individual experiences growth after much struggle with the trauma to find its particular meaning and purpose, with a new worldview to better make sense of the traumatic experience. Trauma leads to struggle with painful experiences and suffering through the symptoms that consequently
As a military spouse I am well aware of the sacrifices that I have made and continue to make to support my husband in his chosen career. However, just recently as my children began to grow to an age of asking questions and learning to understand I began to question how this lifestyle may ultimately impact their emotional and physical wellbeing. With that in mind I decide to look at research that had a focus on how recent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan had affected the children of those deployed men and women.