Oh, really? I like hearing that from police officers about as much as police officers like to hear someone say, “I know my rights!” on a traffic stop. And just like you may be tempted to ask, “And exactly which law school did you graduate from?”, I am likely to wonder where you obtained your medical or psychological degree. The difference between your frustration and mine, though, is that your self-diagnosis could actually cost you your career, or your life.
The good news is that you are not as likely to have PTSD as you may think. The bad news is that you may be suffering from a condition that is much more insidious and common than PTSD. Want to hear more?
Even though I may use a big word or two, I don’t really want to be too “clinical” in this brief article, so let’s just get to the point – every police officer experiences and/or sees trauma regularly. Every police officer, at some point, will experience post-traumatic stress. At any given moment, though, only about 12-15% of those experiencing stress symptoms actually meet the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD. In other words, you are 7-8 times more likely NOT to have PTSD even when you are experiencing signs of post-traumatic stress.
There are plenty of signs to look for when it comes to symptoms of stress:
- Cognitive: poor attention, poor concentration, poor memory
- Emotional: fear, guilt, anger, anxiety, depression
- Physical: aches and pains, fatigue, gastrointestinal issues
- Behavioral: social withdrawal, strained relationships, disruptive behavior
- Spiritual: questioning beliefs, anger at God, cessation of spiritual activities
This is certainly not an all-inclusive list, but most of these things are pretty common and quite often have a direct connection to the effects of stress, whether as a result of a particular trigger event or even as a result of the buildup of chronic stress.
If the symptoms you’re experiencing are not an indicator of PTSD, then what could they possibly be? Simply put, a whole bunch of different things! For example, if you’ve recently experienced some type of trigger event that became the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back,” you could have what is known as Acute Stress Disorder. The bad news is that the symptoms can be very intense. The good news is that they usually only last 2 to 4 weeks and then you are better.
The most likely culprit is what is called Stress Response Syndrome (it used to be called Adjustment Disorder). This is a stress-related malady in which symptoms appear gradually as a result of chronic stress, or more suddenly a few weeks to a few months after some type of trigger event. For this one, I’ll give you the bad news first . . . because there really isn’t much good news to give. Chronic stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.
It's the suicide link that concerns me, and should concern everyone in law enforcement. Research shows that people suffering from stress response syndrome were 19 times more likely to complete suicide than individuals without that previous diagnosis. For the past 5 years, an average of 14-18 active police officers each month have died by their own hand, and that can likely be attributed to the effects of chronic stress or some trigger event that has resulted in those officers suffering from stress response syndrome.
Call for Backup wants to encourage you to reach out if you are experiencing any of the stress-related symptoms mentioned in this article. We can talk about it, and we can offer guidance to help you stay healthy throughout your career. Just reach out to us by message on our Facebook page at m.me/callforbackup.org/. And, of course, if you are in crisis right now and need immediate help, please call a trusted family member or friend to be with you, and then call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or text the keyword BADGE to 741741 to be connected with a trained crisis counselor. It's time to call for backup!