A systematic review of mental health symptoms in police officers following extreme traumatic exposures

A systematic review of mental health symptoms in police officers following extreme traumatic exposures

Police Practice and Research

Introduction

Policing, as with many first response emergency professions, is typically understood to place workers at high risk of exposure to human suffering and tragedy, personal risk, and other situations that could potentially lead to post-traumatic stress, but in addition can result in other mental health challenges such as acute stress, anxiety, and major depression (Birch, Vickers, Kennedy, & Galovic, 2017; Spence & Millott, 2016; Violanti et al., 2016). Much of the literature examining the effects of trauma exposure in policing has focused on repeated exposure to challenging situations and disturbing encounters that are common to policing. Nevertheless, public attention and policy development have largely focused on the impact of large-scale disasters, or extreme events. ‘An extreme event is a dynamic occurrence within a limited timeframe that impedes the normal functioning of a system or systems’ (Broska, Poganietz, & Vögele, in press). In emergency response work, it typically involves loss of life or injury to several individuals, but can also involve considerable loss of property and social disruption. In order to develop more responsive organizational and policy approaches to the issue of mental health concerns in police officers following large-scale traumatic exposures such as disasters, it is vital to identify and summarize evidence that will support a better understanding of the impact of extreme events on the responding officers. This systematic review critically apprises and synthesizes existing research on extreme events to measure the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder (ASD), major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders (AD) in police following exposure to these incidents.

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A systematic review of mental health symptoms in police officers following extreme traumatic exposures, Cheryl Regehr , Mary G. Carey , Shannon Wagner , Lynn E. Alden , Nicholas Buys , Wayne Corneil , Trina Fyfe , Lynda Matthews , Christine Randall , Marc White , Alex FraessPhillips , Elyssa Krutop , Nicole White & Matthew Fleischmann, Police Practice and Research, 2021