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Battle Fatigue

Savannah Gomez

Although Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly diagnosed amongst


military personnel, local law enforcement can also develop it. In the article Duty-Related
Stressors and PTSD Symptoms in Suburban Police Officers, by Robinson, Sigman, Wilson
gather psychological reports of how an officers everyday work environment can be a cause of
PTSD. The article entitled, Traumatic experience and Post-traumatic Stress in the New Zealand
Police by Christine Stephens and Ian Miller, it gathers psychological reports of how traumatic
experiences that the New Zealand police encounter, affect them psychologically. Both articles
carry similarities such as the results that were based on surveys taken from multiple law
enforcement agencies, who they surveyed, the stressors that law enforcement are exposed to but
yet also have differences.
In the first article Duty-Related Stressorsthe findings were based on surveys done in
suburban law enforcement agency. Within the surveys they found multiple stressors that they
believed caused officers to develop PTSD. Stressors such as Death Exposure, Death Encounter,
Physical Threat, Emergency Response, Pursuit Activity, Deadly Force and Situational Threats
(Robinson, Sigman, &Wilson. 1997). In this article the objective was to show how stressors that
suburban officers are exposed to is one of the leading causes of developing PTSD. More males
were surveyed than female officers. The article also gave insight to problems that officers may
develop in order to improperly cope with situations they face on a daily bases. The problems
include alcoholism, violence, isolation and character change (Robinson, Sigman, & Wilson.
1997), all these may not occur immediately but can develop over time.
In Traumatic experience not only reports in prior experiences but also allows the
reader to see what police officers are exposed to daily, 12-35 percent of officers suffer PTSD
with various levels of psychological disabilities and was ranked the fifth most common

(Stephens, & Miller. 1997).This article was based on surveys taken by law enforcement.
Findings throughout the article are in regards to, new issues in investigating symptoms in
workers who encounter a wide range of potentially traumatic experiences (Stephens, & Miller.
1998). This article surveyed both male and female officers equally. Similar to the first article this
surveyed also determines whether the traumatic stressors that affect workers health are
associated with their job (Stephens, & Miller.1997). In this line of work officers are constantly
faced with stressful situations and this can take a toll not only on their mental health but also
their physical well-being. Sources of trauma including, terrorist incidents, civil disorder and
special duties (Stephens, & Miller.1997), can be contributing factors to the police officers
development of PTSD.
These two articles have their own focus points. One talks about stressors more than actual
symptoms. Although, they share the same idea the results are in each article were gathered
differently. The second article focused on existing trauma that the officers may have along with
daily exposure to traumatic events. The objective in this article was to determine to prevalence
of PTSD symptoms and examine their relationship between traumatic event and PTSD
incidences in New Zealand Police (Stephens, & Miller.1997).
In conclusion these articles shared the idea of PTSD, however they gave different points
of the disorder. One focused on suburban officers and the symptoms and the other focused on
New Zealand Police and the stressors involved in PTSD. New information was gained after
reading both articles and was reinforced by each other.

References
Robinson, H. M., Sigman, M. R., & Wilson, J. P. (1997). Duty-related stressors and PTSD
symptoms in suburban police officers. Psychological reports, 81(3), 835-845.
Stephens, C., Long, N., & Miller, I. (1997). The impact of trauma and social support on
posttraumatic stress disorder: A study of New Zealand police officers. Journal of Criminal
Justice, 25(4), 303-314.

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