The Psychological and Physical Effects of Stress on Police Officers

For several factors, stress is a normal reaction to many intense situations, specifically in the law enforcement career field. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, stress is defined as “a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc.” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Positive and negative stress is just as they imply. Positive stress is good for you (eustress) and negative stress (distress) has bad implications. Some examples of eustress would be marriage, promotion, baby, winning money, and graduation. Some examples of distress are divorce, punishment, injury, negative feelings, work difficulties, and financial problems (The American Institute, n.d.). Officers face difficult scenarios during their career and may experience increased heart rate and high blood pressure during physical responses which cause extra stress on their bodies.

According to a study article in the American Journal of Health Sciences, the level of tension from the stressful work environment was directly related to the day-to-day dangerous situations encountered by police officers. The reasons included were the death of a fellow officer, an officer-involved in fatal shooting, and the reaction to criminal calls while in action. Additional factors included preserving and maintaining a horrific crime scene, as well as the collection of evidence. The study also showed that officers at their strongest point frequently exhaust under a constant barrage of stressors from police supervisors, the administration and high-priority calls every day. This deficiency has been shown to adversely affect the ability of officers to cope with stress and has often contributed to burnout (Bush & Neely, 2015).

Major Causes of Stress

Accumulative stress superimposed with average stressors that every individual deals with daily put a burdensome toll on our bodies that results in irritability, depression, and headaches to name a few (The American Institute, n.d.). Such stressors set our bodies in motion in response to meet those needs. In a stressful law enforcement situation, one can add work stressors as fear, additional exhaustion, enforcing the law, and upholding ethical standards. Personal off duty responsibilities such as being a spouse, parent, and friend act as stressors (CMRJ202 Week 2, 2019). Once these responsibilities are all lumped together, the person is burdened with a greater amount of stress. Every day police officers contend with many different sources of anxieties, generating several human traumatic environments. An officer could have a crazy day at work, filled with job risks, home trouble, online school, and then all of a sudden the police officer is driving around the city with more than he or she can handle on their minds efficiently. Our bodies react with stress by informing us that a change in direction is required. Without addressing this burden, the police officer may not take care of these things causing more serious complications.

Pain response from the body is a defensive mechanism. However, it is the effects that normally give us distress and other health concerns. Law enforcement officers are likely to deal with chronic stress and the elevated effects that follow it, due to their constant sources of pressures on the job. In an article on WebMD, “Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor’s visits are for stress-related ailment and complaints, while only forty-three percent suffer from adverse health effects from stress” (The Effects of Stress, 2017). That is a significant number of stress-induced conditions frequently occurring that cannot be taken lightly.

Chronic stress can result in headaches and insomnia, which further promotes stress over time (Mayo Clinic, 2020). This illustrates how constant stress can be. The more stress one endures, the greater the severity and progression of the symptoms, creating additional tension. This can spiral out of control quickly leading to alcohol and substance abuse along with depression and a host of other issues. This can be a domino effect and must be remedied as soon as possible as it becomes apparent the tension is piling up. Because stress seems to be a problem that increasingly infiltrates society, everyone wants to find the best way to deal with it. Some may be able to simply cut the stressor out of their lives through meditation, counseling, or religious beliefs. Others may not be unable to cut the stressors out of their life because they do not know how to deal with the situations that bring them these tensions.

Some findings through investigative research indicated that overall stress levels in women officers are higher than their male counterparts (Kurtz, 2012). Police work can pose particular problems for female officers due to male coworker aggression, lack of administrative help, sexual harassment or negative conduct common in male-dominated careers. Family life referred to as “second shift”, may pose a unique stressor for female officers who are expected to still be caregivers and wives to uphold the man-age traditional roles (Kurtz, 2012).

Most police officers are unwilling to switch careers because they love what they do, but over time, they may pay a steep price for doing so. Stressors can occur anywhere or anytime. Everyone must find their own unique way to cope with stressors that works best. It can be difficult to find out exactly what is causing the stress and how it can be minimized or treated. It can be apparent at times, but job issues aren't a particular thing and the more abstract the stressor is, the more complicated it is to treat. However, it can be dealt with since tension is common in a stressful situation.

Impacts on Professional Life

Each individual has a unique reaction to stressors in their life. In specific, each law enforcement officer may perceive their particular work environment scenarios differently depending on their experience, years on the job, their specific job duties, personalities, and accessibility to coping programs. Often independent counseling agencies along with the in-house counseling program staff don’t have the time to work with their respectable department management to eliminate organizational sources of stress for officers. The absence of agreeing between the police administrators and mental health professionals towards the proposed changes recommended for their organization either from the scarcity of time or resources (Finn & Tomz, 1996). Unfortunately, this is a growing concern for the law enforcement community nationwide. There needs to be more mental health programs available for law enforcement personnel.

In an article from the Dallas News, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed occupations in protective services at No. 6 on their list for those most at risk of suicide (Piquero, 2018). Frustration and anxiety can build up from organizational stressors like paramilitary structure, unproductive management styles, inconsistent disciplinary measures, excessive or unnecessary paperwork, perceived favoritism, “subcultures” within the department, lack of career development opportunities, etc. For example, an officer may not receive a promotion they deserve because it was given to someone in a political relationship instead. Often placing themselves in danger due to their profession, officers can put a toll on their mental or physical state from stress. As a police officer, you could be responding to the most basic routine call that might end up as a tragedy. That places a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the responding officer on how he or she might react to the situation at hand.

The effects of organizational factors of stress will ultimately integrate with each individual factors of stress oftentimes leading to health risks. (Finn & Tomz, 1996). The previously stated occurrences that can cause stress, will, in turn, contribute to fatigue symptoms that could potentially harm the mental and physical health of the officer (Officer Work Hours, Stress and Fatigue, 2012). The collaboration of stressors relating to the mental and physical health of an officer can lead to fatigue which may have a dramatic impact on their ability to function properly. For example, impaired judgment along with loss of hand and eye coordination could result in a life or death situation for either the officer or suspect.

Coping with stress-related occurrences is a significant factor in the resiliency of a police officer’s being. Inability to convey emotions well, insufficient attempts to obtain professional support, social reclusion, and self-criticism are facets of police subculture that result in police officers ' non-adaptive behavior. The inability to deal with stress efficiently leads to increased severity and frequency of police officers experiencing stress. A trauma-reducing factor in police officers is emotional support from colleagues, friends, and spouses. Work pressures in the professional field of law enforcement combined with their colleagues ' lack of support and leadership frequently contribute to increased alcohol use in police officers who want to relieve tension (Pastwa-Wojciechowska & Piotrowski, 2016).

Impacts on Personal life

A police officer’s career impact on their personnel life is similar to that of the military profession. With their last-minute temporary duties (TDY), deployments, being “on duty” 24/7 along with the extra duties, military personnel experience severe stressful impacts on their selves as well as with their families’ lives. Police officer’s deal with comparable situations such as being away in the evenings due to shift-work/overtime missing dinners or special events, undercover work, critical incidents, line-of-duty deaths, not being able to watch the families favorite television show, cynicism or the need to be in control at home, saying goodnight to their kids, etc. The best resolution to this dilemma is to stay involved by trying to call your loved ones at night if time permits, have the kids write notes back and forth to explain what they had accomplished that day or even make videos to send through texts or any other social media applet. These examples don’t replace mom or dad but will make a stronger family bond through these improved modern ways of communication (Fratesi, n.d.). Keeping these lines of communication open could significantly improve an officer’s mental state while being on the beat.

Hearings held by congress in 1991 on stress-related problems among officer’s families, resulted in the passing of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act stemming additional support for officers’ families (Finn & Tomz, 1996). Research has provided that in 479 spouses of law enforcement officers interviewed, 77 percent experienced high amounts of stress from their significant others police work such as shift work and overtime, fear of the officer getting hurt or killed, higher expectations of their children compared to regular guardians, paranoia or subsequent overprotection of their family, and the presence of a gun in the home to name a few (Finn & Tomz, 1996).

Although spouses take great pride in being married to their police officers, there is a great difficulty to acclimate to the police culture. Marrying a police officer isn’t easy street like perceived on TV shows or movies. Role conflict is a huge factor that has a negative impact on police marriages. On duty, officers must always be on high alert for their safety and safety of others at all times. It may be difficult for the offices to transition that mindset to an off duty role. Negative public opinion can raise tension in police families, as witnesses and arresters may remember the officer when off duty and while accompanied by their relatives. This fact will make the officer uncomfortable in public places that many families enjoy (Sadulski, 2017).

The inability to cope with these real world examples of what caused this family stress, developed deep isolation from the outside world in some cases due to their spouse working opposite work schedules, consistently worrying about their safety on or off duty, and sometimes having the civilian spouse pick up more responsibilities after their work day to upkeep the family (Finn & Tomz, 1996). The development of modern stress-related programs to address the families within the law enforcement community has provided the much-needed help to deal with the stresses they cannot escape.

Conclusion

Stress is a normal part of everyday life whether it is positive or negative. Stress impacts law enforcement personnel in a variety of ways. Overbearing regulations, negativity from the community, and police politics cause negative stress on officers. If left untreated, negative stress can cause anxiety, depression, PTSD, and even suicide. In addition, the lack of sleep, poor eating habits due to irregular schedules and strainful working conditions add to daily stress related symptoms. Officers must recognize the symptoms of stress so that they can change their lifestyle by exercising, meditation, counseling, religious practices, and taking time off. They need to eliminate as many sources of stress that they can to avoid implications while on duty or off duty that can lead to organizational or personal issues. Local and Federal agencies need to expand assistance programs to ensure law enforcement personnel are physically and mentally fit to perform their duties without risking injury to themselves for others.