How can police officers reduce stress

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Coping strategies and job stress in policing: a literature review. Keywords : burnout, distress, operational stress, police officers, questionnaire validation. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author s and the copyright owner s are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice.

No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Introduction According to recent systematic reviews, being a police officer seems to be a highly demanding and stressful occupation, due to the current characteristics of modern societies.

Figure 1. Distribution of papers according year of publication. Figure 2. Distribution of papers according country of the study. Figure 3. Distribution of papers according sample size. Figure 4.

Distribution of papers according burnout measurement instrument. Figure 5. Distribution of papers according stress measurement instrument. May 15, Examples of such strategies include: Self-regulation skills training to reduce negative emotions, improve sleep, and increase the use of effective coping strategies Relaxation training to reduce stress and increase sleep quality Resilience training to reduce the impact of operational stress on health and behavioral outcomes Despite these promising strategies, most research on intervention studies to reduce officer stress shows no, or very small, effects.

For example: Existing research on the link between officer health and police performance fails to fully consider the complex nature of police performance Little research has explored how agency policies affect individual officer health Research has often taken a one-size-fits-all approach to managing officer stress. This fails to account for important factors that vary by agency, and even between officers in different roles within the same agency.

Use experimental designs to better understand the relationships between police work and health, and officer well-being and agency outcomes. Examine health and wellness interventions developed outside of U. This includes policing research conducted in other countries, as well as occupational stress interventions conducted in the United States among different occupational groups.

Develop "wise," scalable interventions. Shana Nicholson have written several articles about how police officers can reduce stress specific to police work. Law enforcement officers can reduce stress by:.

Not all stress is bad. In fact, it can be positive. It can help officers get out of dangerous situations and it can also motivate individuals to achieve. However, too much stress can affect your emotional and physical well-being and can cause significant problems in your life at home, work, and school. Fortunately, if you are experiencing negative stress in your life there are ways in which you can effectively manage it.

These are just a few suggestions. Your situation is different and as unique as you are. There are some circumstances in which this might seem impossible, but the key is to keep moving forward and to remain as positive as possible. Stress is common in all of our lives, but as long as we look for ways to effectively manage it and seek help when we feel we are not able to, we can make it through.

Many times, we find ourselves coming out of a stressful situation stronger than before. The most important thing is to recognize when you feel stressed and work to identify what is causing it.

Once stress is acknowledged, officers can work to effectively manage it and not let it consume their lives. Depending on where you live and work, you may face media scrutiny or community distrust.

First, law enforcement officers are hard-wired to focus on the negative. We are always in threat assessment mode. All the way back in the academy, we were taught to focus on the bad things that can happen—because doing so could save our lives one day. This hard-wired approach to focus on the negative can take its toll and make it difficult to differentiate situations where we should be looking for the positive. There is a high level of responsibility that comes with being a protector of the public.

Coupled with that, law enforcement culture expects officers to be stoic and strong in the face of adversity. We are taught to resist normal physiological responses to tragedies or critical incidents.

The consequences of police officer stress pose a serious threat. Most of these signs and symptoms can be traced back to depleted energy. For many officers, law enforcement is their identity. In turn, they can quickly feel isolated when dealing with the normal challenges of law enforcement. The answer to the devastating consequences of police officer stress is self-care for mental health. You may have heard this term tossed around, but what does it really mean? Self-care is not an exercise regimen or seeing a psychologist although it could encompass those things.

This last part is often difficult to understand. Our Type A personalities often lead us to believe that we do our best when we commit all our resources to something, working ourselves harder and harder. We only have a finite amount of energy each day to expend. Just as taking a day off from the gym can help us train harder the next day, participating in activities outside law enforcement helps us refuel emotionally, which makes us more effective when we go back on duty.