What Research Tells Us

First Responders are routinely exposed to stressful and traumatic events in the course of their duties. As such, they are at increased risk for long-term problems from traumatic stress. 

The normal response of most people to traumatic (abnormal) events is psychological and physical distress. Humans have both inborn and learned responses to threatening events, based in our drive to survive. We use established coping skills and support from family and friends to manage such experiences. Often healing proceeds normally and there are no long-term consequences to the event. At other times, the individual may experience temporary or chronic effects from the traumatic incident.

It is not the event itself, but the meaning it has for the individual that makes it traumatic. Right after a traumatic event, most people experience a range of normal reactions, including: anxiety, feeling “revved up;” fatigue; irritability; hyper-vigilance; increased emotionality; problems sleeping; exaggerated startle response, change in appetite; feeling overwhelmed; impatience; withdrawing from family and friends.

First responders are exposed to highly stressful events in the course of their routine duties. There are specific situations that increase one’s vulnerability to traumatic stress: having no control over the volume of calls; having to continue responding to calls regardless after an especially disturbing call; being in the service for a long time, since stress is cumulative; being in a situation where one feels helpless in the face of overwhelming demands, such as a prolonged, failed, rescue; having a partner, or a peer killed or seriously injured in the line of duty; the suicide of a peer; being at serious risk oneself as in losing the wall or running out of air in a working fire; witnessing horrifying things, experiencing the death of a child in the line of duty; responding to a call for a victim who is known to the responder; working without the support of administration, or having administration question one’s actions in an investigation