First Responder Profession

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The diminished health and wellness of first responders is extremely disheartening. The hazards of the first responder professions, including firemen, police officers, and other emergency medical technicians, are so many: drugs, alcohol, gambling, depression, PTSD, suicide, emotional illness, broken families, and more. Without proper emotional-survival training, the effects of the invisible wounds of the first responder’s job can destroy not just their lives themselves, but also their friends, family, colleagues, and the community they are devoted to protecting. About 50 percent of first responders retire early or leave on disability due to the wear and tear of the job (Willis, 2014). Losing a first responder to emotional and psychological trauma …show more content…
Some examples of signs that are seen in individuals with PTSD are broken sleep because of nightmares, irritability and outbursts of anger, withdrawing from interaction and lack of communication, emotional numbness, depression, drinking too much or abusing medications in order to sleep or forget, becoming anxious, isolation, and loss of work satisfaction and cynicism (Declercq, 2011). After the incident in over, PTSD sufferers may reexperience the trauma through flashbacks, night terrors, or illusions (Willis, 2014). The emergency first responder suffering from PTSD may also experience intrusive thoughts, angry rages, the inability to concentrate or focus, an exaggerated startle response, uncontrollable emotions, and the inability to stop replaying the traumatic event over and over again (Bryant, 2005). Every emergency first responder is susceptible to these potentially debilitating injuries to the mind and spirit, but there are ways to prepare for and process trauma that can significantly reduce the intensity and duration of symptoms (Willis, 2014). “PTSD is not about what what’s wrong with you - it is about what happened to you”(Willis, pg.