Police officers and post-traumatic stress disorder: Discussing the deficit in research, identification and prevention in England and Wales
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Author | Kristina Massey,Jim Foley |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X18761284 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Police officers and post-
traumatic stress disorder:
Discussing the deficit in
research, identification and
prevention in England and
Wales
Jim Foley and Kristina Massey
Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK
Abstract
This article will review available literature regarding post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) within policing in England and Wales, with a particular focus on its early iden-
tification and prevention. An overview of PTSD will be given as well as an exploration of
why police officers are potentially more susceptible to this mental health condition
compared to other members of society. Key factors in the early identification and
prevention of PTSD will be outlined, with a focus on crisis intervention techniques which
have been subject to considerable academic study. There is limited research available
from England and Wales that looks specifically at PTSD in policing; this research deficit
will be highlighted and key areas of research which need to be explored further will be
given so that this problem can be both identified and prevented in officers.
Keywords
Policing, post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health, prevention
Introduction
Most people will experience at least one traumatic event in their lives (Horn et al., 2016;
Ogle et al., 2013) and although these events may cause some initial upset and distress, in
most cases these conditions will be short-lived and the person will recover of their own
Corresponding author:
Kristina Massey, Canterbury Christ Church University, North Holmes Road, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK.
Email: kristina.massey@canterbury.ac.uk
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
2019, Vol. 92(1) 23–34
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0032258X18761284
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