General Police Officers With PTSD

[Shoka]

sp607,

There is hope, especially if your husband is being treated. In the end it may turn out that there are reasons other than the job that cause the PTSD. Does your husband have a good therapist?

Don't give up hope sp607. You have someone who is willing to get help and that's a good start. PTSD does put stress on a relationship and that's why it's important for you to look after your own well being as much as you look out for his.

Shoka

 

[Cate]

Hi sp607.

I didn't realize you had asked me a question about new careers for police officers suffering from ptsd. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, yet, but it's kind of an interesting feeling knowing that I get to re-invent myself.

I'm definitely going to finish my degree and then I'll look at something that I can do to help people...hopefully still using some of the skills I have developed as an officer. I've been looking very closely at alternative dispute resolution as a career but I think I'll know what I want to do when it's the right time. I'm still working toward getting healthy.

Hang in there.
Cate

 

[sp607]

Cate,
Thanks for taking time to respond back!

I really do wish you all the best of luck in your new adventure to 're-invent yourself'. I can see how that would in a sense be exciting.

Take care!
SP607

 

[LWright1209]

My husband and I have been together for 4 years, and married almost 3. He, too, is a police officer suffering from PTSD. We (and I say "we" because we are going through this together) have only been diagnosed a short time, but the symptoms have been manifesting for quite some time.

I, too, am struggling but determined to stay this through. After all, we married them for a reason, right?

 

[Cate]

I've been with my partner for 12 years and he puts up with my ptsd because he loves me. I'm not abusive toward him and I believe I'm a good partner to him. He understands what I've gone through in the past and what I'm going through now....I'm not prepared to throw away 12 years of what has been a mostly good relationship and he's not prepared to do that either. I guess that's the definition of 'commitment'.

Hang in there! :occasion:

Cate

 

[NarcSis]

Hi sp607,

Love your job and know you're really good at it but at the exact same time, hesitate to go into work or even consider just quiting?
-How many events (and how long have you been employed as an officer) have you encountered during your career that have led to PTSD?
-Feel guilty that you suffer from PTSD when there are 'soliders coming home from Iraq who have seen must worse'? (as my husband would say)
-Do you think that it is possible to continue with a career as a police officer (he has 15 more years before retirement)?
-Do you think that you're 'going crazy' (in my husbands words)?. Just feel like you're losing it or can't even explain what's wrong or how you're feeling?

I am not a Police Officer however my father and two of my brothers were. My father a war vet, took early retirement after one of my brothers was killed in a car crash - small town, he was the only officer. My one brother left his job shortly after he experienced the suicide of one of our cousins (same town, only officer). I am a medic, I have PTSD.

With regard to your questions
- I LOVE my job, I love it. I found it very difficult to face doing my job after my trauma, I took alot of sick days because I just couldn't face going in.
- I have been a medic for 13 years. I have seen countless "traumatizing" calls but am fortunate to be able to pinpoint my straw on this camels back. They each take their own small bite out of us, eventually there is nothing left to bite.
- "Soldiers coming back from Iraq...", "War survivors in Bosnia..." I've said it all. It is common to feel we are not 'worthy' of our diagnosis, or that we are somehow weak because of it. We are NOT WEAK. WE ARE HUMAN.
- As a paramedic, I believe I will go back. I have had colleagues return to work. I have faith I will get there.
- Crazy pretty much sums up how I felt. Something went wrong, it was all off kilter. What was repeatedly happening to me didn't make any logical sense to me, it was so unreal.

I may not be happy if I have to go back to work in a support role but I will deal with that when the time comes, its not constructive for me to catastrophize my future. He is not alone, you are not alone.

I hope we can someday chat with him here. The going is tough, its slow and its extremely frustrating. One day at a time.

Remember to take care of you in all of this.

Medic72

 

[sunny23]

sp607, sorry it took so long to respond to you but I just found this site and searched for information on Police Officers. I was a police officer for 14 years all on the night shift in an urban area. I saw and dealt with a lot of traumatic events that I thought I put behind me. In 2002 I was involved in a long drawn out and bloody fight with EDP with an edged weapon. By the time I was able to shoot and kill him he had already stabbed an officer and our k-9 several times.

-This is when my PTSD started but my nightmares and flashbacks also involved all those other events such as murdered children and suicides.
-I thought I was crazy for two years until I found out what was wrong with me. We generally train up until the bad guy is down but no one ever tells us what may happen after the fact.
- I retired but miss my job everyday. I wish I had stayed because nothing got better when I retired.
- My wife has since passed away from cancer but my PTSD effected our relationship greatly.

Sunny23