Spirituality and the Traumatic Stress in Law Enforcement

Traumatic Stress in Law Enforcement
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Abstract
Policing is a demanding occupation, and it constantly deals with injuries, horrifying crime scenes, demise, and being alert regularly, irrespective of being on or off work. The adverse influence of traumatic and other job-linked stressors on the officers’ health and wellbeing is immense. This is because exposure to these traumatic encounters leads to depression, PTSD, suicide, and drug misuse. Therefore, cops need a coping approach to overcome these traumatic stressors. Studies regularly cite spirituality as an effective method of safeguarding cops from the policing ill consequences, which reportedly results in enhanced health and wellness. The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of spirituality as a coping approach for officers confronting traumatic stress.
Traumatic Stress in Law Enforcement
A person may get post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after experiencing traumatic circumstances. People exposed in this way may exhibit symptoms like unpleasant memories of the incident, intolerance of any recollections, and emotional and physiological issues. Police officers are in danger of acquiring PTSD as they are recurrently subjected to horrible situations, such as seeing carcasses or neglected kids, ferocious assaults, and participating in shootings (Foley & Massey, 2019). Cops might encounter mental health issues due to this exposure, which might limit their job performance. Therefore, law enforcers must have a coping mechanism to handle the trauma they encounter in their line of duty. The paper also argues that spirituality is one of the vital coping mechanisms to help law enforcement officers’ deal with traumatic stress.
Impacts of Traumatic Stress on Law Enforcement
Historically, the duties of cops have included a wide range of tasks. They defend and serve society, occasionally calling for them to act as social workers, therapists, and unbiased peacekeepers. However, there is an emotional cost associated with these jobs. They are first-hand observers of gruesome atrocities such as severe natural catastrophes, terrorist acts that cause numerous victims, suicides, car accidents that cause trauma and death, child neglect or abuse, and domestic violence. These cumulatively painful experiences may affect the person and lead to PTSD. This result is in line with what Daniel and Treece (2021) found: that law enforcement personnel experience enormous stressors as part of their everyday responsibilities, all of which impact their mental health, whether or not that impact is immediate. Additionally, Daniel and Treece’s (2021) findings may be related to Tuttle et al. (2018)'s claim that police officers may be hesitant to take out mental health experts because of fear of stigma or rejection from their peers.
Foley and Massey (2019) assert that it took several decades for the mental health profession to publicly accept that soldiers deployed to combat zones were mentally devastated by what they had seen and experienced. Sadly, when they returned from service, Vietnam soldiers with PTSD symptoms did not receive adequate mental health care. The first time PTSD was recogn...