By Dr. Steve Albrecht for Calibre Press | calibrepress.com
Not only are police officers susceptible to the impact of PTSD because of their own life-threatening, life-protecting activities, but they are also vulnerable to the traumatic events of others.
One form of PTSD is called “compassion stress” because it occurs when we are exposed to the trauma experienced by others with whom we come into close contact. As Dr. Charles Figley, a psychologist and researcher from Florida State University, has defined it, compassion stress comes from “the natural behaviors and emotions that arise from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by another person and the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatized person.”
In other words, just because you did not personally experience a physical assault like a rape, gunshot wound or debilitating car accident, you can, by coming into close contact with the victim(s), feel many of the same physical and psychological “pains.”
The fact that police officers choose a career in law enforcement means that they have a propensity for wanting to help people. After all, we know from experience that police officers do more helping than crime-fighting, more serving than protecting. So, it is from within this unique position of “police officer as helper” (just like a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or counselor) that we can experience burnout, emotional and physical exhaustion, and a disturbing concept known as “countertransference.”
According to its definition, feelings of countertransference occur “when the wounds of the helper are triggered by the victims they are trying to help, by similarities between the victim and the helper, or by recent traumas in the helper’s life.”
This can occur along two levels, sort of like a sliding scale. At one end, you respond to the trauma of another person by becoming overly detached—using a “just the facts” approach that serves to distance you from the person and what happened to him or her. You may also seek to minimize the traumatic event by convincing yourself it’s “not that big a deal.”
At the other end of the spectrum, you may feel partially or completely overwhelmed by the severity or details of the victim’s traumatic event, or numbed or horrified so much that you’re unable to respond “normally” as a law enforcement officer.
Events that will trigger either of these responses can quickly take you out of the mode of the helper and into thought processes, actions, and feelings that seem almost like you’re experiencing the same event as the first victim. In effect, you can become a second victim.
Most of us become hardened to the painful reality that some human beings have a sickened knack for injuring, maiming, or murdering others in unique ways. And still others of us have figured out various positive (and perhaps not-so-good) methods for coping with a certain specific range of “acceptable” crimes or traumatic events, as long as they don’t cross our personal boundaries.
Events that can take us out of our training and experience-created comfort zones include the brutal rape of a young child, the murder of a person who reminds us of a family member or close friend, a multi-car accident involving people we know, a mass murder event, or any multiple-victim homicide scene. In these cases, the sheer size and immense pain of these traumas can cause us to doubt our once rock-solid belief that we can cope with anything.
Other less severe examples might include the officer who responds to the battered woman with inappropriate feelings that she should “fix her own problems” or, at the other extreme, that the officer will go out of his or her way to get the victim’s life back in order by helping to “get” or “punish” the abuser. Or the officers who have an alcoholic or drug-abusing family member and can’t separate their feelings of anger or anxiety toward this relative when forced to deal with similar people in the field.
Countertransference symptoms can appear as rage, dread, horror, revulsion, shame, grief, “mourning”-like responses to death, overattachment or inappropriate “bonding” between the victim and the officer, and a sense that the officer wants to be, or take the role of, “liberator” or “hero” for the victim. It seems highly unlikely that any of these responses will help the situation for either party.
If you feel countertransference to any degree in yourself, in a family member, or with a fellow officer who has expressed some signs or mentioned some symptoms, the first and best solution is one that therapists, counselors, social workers, and other mental health caregivers use themselves; they get immediate counseling help from other caregivers who know about PTSD, countertransference, and the related feelings of loss of control. Make the call when you feel you need to talk to someone sympathetic, empathetic, and qualified to help you cope with the demands of this job.
Other helpful intervention techniques might include more and varied physical exercise, more contact with family and friends who work outside of law enforcement, and taking reasonable and timely breaks from your work (up to and including changing assignments, divisions, shifts, partners, or squads).
Personally, you might want to find new hobbies or interests outside of police work. Write down some of your feelings for later re-reading, get involved with religious services in your neighborhood, adjust your eating and sleeping habits to maximize the rejuvenating benefits from each, monitor your energy level throughout the day, and finally, know your limitations with certain “hot button” subjects, events, suspects or victims.
We’re all human. Feelings of PTSD and countertransference are entirely normal and, given the right kinds of qualified professional help, very treatable. Because you’re currently subject to the demands of so much physical and emotional trauma in the lives of others, it’s possible to see these events impact many parts of your own life as well. Recognizing these feelings is an important first step toward feeling better about them.
About the author:
Dr. Steve Albrecht retired from the San Diego Police Department after 15 years of service, both as a full-time officer and later as a reserve sergeant. He is internationally-known for his training programs and consulting work in workplace and school violence prevention and library safety and security. Steve continues to speak, train, consult, and write on tough organizational behavior topics. He brings his HR, training, law enforcement, security, coaching, and writing background to issues like violence and security risk assessments, sexual or racial harassment, diversity, drugs and alcohol at work, team conflicts, and employee stress. His clients include city and county governments; public, law, and college libraries; Joint Powers Authorities (JPAs); K-12 school districts; colleges and universities; and private-sector firms. More information is available at: www.drstevealbrecht.com.
