Postraumatic Stress In The Workplace

Stress can affect the officer’s workplace performance as well as their personal life. Stress that has an affect on an officer’s workplace performance can lead to bigger problems. If an officer is not performing well it can lead to the officer making a mistake while on the job. This can lead to lawsuits against that officer, and the department (Kurtz, 2012). Officer stress can sometimes turn into posttraumatic stress disorder. Posttraumatic stress disorder is brought on after someone has exposure to a traumatic event. Officers often come into contact with many different things on a daily basis that can produce posttraumatic stress disorder (Violanti, Slaven & Charles, 2011). Some examples of these events include calls dealing with homicide, …show more content…
Some officers turn to alcohol or drugs, and sometimes abuse it. According to Violanti (2011) a study revealed that 8.3% of people who work as protective service agents reported to drinking heavy alcohol within the month the study was done (Violanti, et al., 2011). This study linked officers drinking together as one of the problems. Officers often will go out together after a shift, and this was linked to higher alcoholism. Health problems among officers can also be a negative effect of untreated stress. Police officers mental health is often affected by the job. This happens when they do not properly deal with the stressors that come with the job. This can lead to the officers developing psychological disorders. Officers that do not properly deal with job stress may also develop sleep disorders (Tyagi & Lochan, 2014). A more serious consequence to untreated stress among police officers is suicide. It is important for officers to discuss the stress they are feeling before it becomes too late. This may happen after an officer frequently comes into contact with multiple high-risk situations. Officers who turn to drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism may have a higher risk of suicide. Without proper coping mechanisms an officer may not know how to deal with the stress of these events (Chae & Boyle, …show more content…
All of these are stressors that can cause a officer to have drug or alcohol dependency. They can also cause posttraumatic stress disorder or suicide. Having the proper coping skills when it comes to stress is extremely important. Mediation, making a plan of action, talking to someone or job reassignment are all ways that have been proved to be helpful with officer