Stress, one of the most common occurrences in an individual’s life. A definition used to describe stress is “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances” (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). In the field of law enforcement, police officers undergo adverse and demanding circumstances each day. They are exposed to incidences that other individuals do not see on a daily basis. Police officers have many roles within their duties varying from enforcing the law to acting as a social worker. These duties also require an immense amount of paperwork, which can add to an officer’s stress levels. But an officers stress levels does not end when their shift ends. Their occupational stress can begin to influence
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Stress can impact an individual’s life in many negative ways physically, psychologically, and emotionally. As officer’s continue to deal with their stress, it will eventually lead officers to fatigue and drain one’s energy and enthusiasm levels. There are no questions police officers expose themselves to dangerous situations. In most cases, officers do not have any control over these situations, which can increase stress levels due to the elements of surprise. It is also a perception many officers will appear strong and avoid demonstrating weaknesses by suppressing and denying any trauma (John et al, 1995). This could be due to the police subculture either directly, or indirectly influencing police officers to hide this behaviour. By suppressing, or denying any trauma an officer experiences can negatively add emotional stress on a police officer while on duty, or …show more content…
Many policing agencies have strongly suggested officers undergo therapy as a healthy way to emotionally cope with the incident. In addition to therapy, a critical incident stress debriefings (CISD) have been implemented to aid in psychological stress due to a traumatic event. The article Conflict and Crisis Communication explains with the aid of the CISD, the number of first responders who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder as reduced (Vecchi, 2009). As officers become more aware of these resources, they can take the first step in positively reducing their stress
Stress can impact an individual’s life in many negative ways physically, psychologically, and emotionally. As officer’s continue to deal with their stress, it will eventually lead officers to fatigue and drain one’s energy and enthusiasm levels. There are no questions police officers expose themselves to dangerous situations. In most cases, officers do not have any control over these situations, which can increase stress levels due to the elements of surprise. It is also a perception many officers will appear strong and avoid demonstrating weaknesses by suppressing and denying any trauma (John et al, 1995). This could be due to the police subculture either directly, or indirectly influencing police officers to hide this behaviour. By suppressing, or denying any trauma an officer experiences can negatively add emotional stress on a police officer while on duty, or …show more content…
Many policing agencies have strongly suggested officers undergo therapy as a healthy way to emotionally cope with the incident. In addition to therapy, a critical incident stress debriefings (CISD) have been implemented to aid in psychological stress due to a traumatic event. The article Conflict and Crisis Communication explains with the aid of the CISD, the number of first responders who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder as reduced (Vecchi, 2009). As officers become more aware of these resources, they can take the first step in positively reducing their stress