Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

 

PTSD has some of the same symptoms of acute stress reaction.  The difference are the symptoms last for longer than thirty days past the event.  It is important to note PTSD can be attributed to a culmination of  traumatic events.

Secondary Traumas

 

Secondary trauma occurs after the original incident.  Secondary trauma generally occurs due to stress put on the officer from outside sources related to the incident such as media, peers, family, and the manner in which the administration chooses to manage the incident afterward.  Many times the secondary trauma is worse for the officer than the initial incident.  The response from the officer’s administration greatly affects their recovery.  When the officer’s agency fails to protect or assist the officer it causes what is known as Betrayal Trauma.

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Betrayal Trauma can be caused by the officer’s agency or governing body failing to support an officer after the original trauma occurs.  Cities tend to succumb to political and media pressure, during which they tend to overreach the investigation with assumptions or misguided community loyalties that often turn those we serve against the officer.

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Our own communities who we have sworn to serve begin to judge, calling for justice prior to the completion of an investigation, essentially resulting in the officer being tried in the media without the forum to defend himself or herself. That feeling of powerlessness can drive officers into a downward spiral that, more times than not, ends in catastrophic events such as divorce and ultimately suicide. The officer’s deterioration doesn’t go unnoticed; fellow officers and supervisors fail to speak up, afraid to hurt a brother officer’s career when, in fact, they could be saving a career and the officer’s life.