Post-traumatic stress risk to police officers lower than previously thought
November 22, 2011
Although police officers are at a high risk of experiencing traumatic events (TE) in their work, they are no more likely than the general population to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
These are the findings from the second phase of an original and groundbreaking study published by the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) on the risk and protective factors of post-traumatic stress reactions in Quebec police officers.
Immediate and post-immediate intervention
This study also confirms that symptoms associated with the development of PTSD in police officers can be attenuated or prevented with specific and adapted intervention. These symptoms include dissociative reactions, emotional and physical reactions, a state of acute stress, depressive symptoms, and emotional coping responses to stress.
"Providing police officers with interventional support shortly after and in the weeks following a TE improves the chances of preventing PTSD," explained André Marchand, lead author of the study, researcher at the Fernand-Seguin Research Centre of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital and Associate Professor at Université de Montréal.
Read the official news release
Catherine Dion
Agente d'information – relations médias
Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine – Centre de recherche Fernand-Seguin
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