First Responders Face Brutality Of Trauma

First Responders Face Brutality Of Trauma
By FireFightingNews.com

Written by David Hench
Maine - At 6:35 p.m. on Memorial Day, a passer-by reported smoke coming from a third-floor apartment at 463 Cumberland Ave. Firefighters from the Bramhall and Central stations rolled up within minutes and set about their duties, dousing the flames and searching for survivors. As fire calls go, it was not unusual.

Then one of the firefighters inside the apartment came across the remains of 18-year-old Zoe Sarnacki, her body savagely desecrated.

The fire scene became a crime scene, crawling with detectives and evidence technicians, methodically searching for clues and recovering evidence.

Set aside for the moment was the intense psychological impact on the public safety responders of viewing such a disturbing scene. But it's hard for such images not to leave a mark, to come back in dreams or when the fire bell next rings.

Left unresolved, they can lead to substance abuse, domestic conflict and even eating disorders. Sometimes emergency responders cope by becoming emotionally detached, which is itself a high price to pay.

"Because it's their job, they adjust to it. It doesn't mean it doesn't take a toll," says Thomas Marino, a Portland psychologist who has worked extensively with first responders and military personnel on dealing with the stress of particularly disturbing experiences. "Anything that's pretty dehumanizing and horrific, I think there's no way we can't be affected by it."

Public safety supervisors say they keep watch for signs that an employee is having difficulties coping with a particular incident or sequence of incidents.

"You don't look at a crime scene and say, 'I can't believe one person would do this,' because you're working nose to the grindstone," Malloch said. "You shift gears and turn off your emotions so you can do your job effectively.

"It's when you're done working your shift that it starts to bother you," he said.

The diagnostic definition of post-traumatic stress disorder is when a traumatic event, with death or serious injury accompanied by intense fear, helplessness or horror, causes recurrent and distressing recollections of the event, Marino said.

Treating the condition early, in its acute phase, is important so that it does not become chronic or manifest as major depression, he said.click link for more

This is the part that always gets to me. Police officers and firefighters know enough to bring someway for their people to talk about what they just went thru so they don't just stuff it and move on. So why is it the military still has not gotten the message that this is being done all across this country? Is it because they consider the troops all so well trained they stop being human? Is it because they think that police officers and firefighters are less "mentally tough" than the troops?

Stop and think of the so called "programs" the military has been coming out with to strengthen the minds of the troops. As if this would ever, ever work. Battlemind begins with telling the troops they can toughen their minds to prevent PTSD, thus telling them if they do end up with PTSD, it's their fault because they were not tough enough. The detrimental consequences of programs like this have lead to a lot of knocks on the door in the middle of the night to inform families their soldier is not coming home. Not killed by an enemy bullet or roadside bomb blast. But a non-combat fatality. Cause of death, suicide instead of the wound they carried inside of them. Suicides up, attempted suicides increased and most of us are left scratching our heads wondering when the military will get any of this right.

Good Lord! Even regular citizens get more attention from Chaplains and mental health professionals after one traumatic incident than the troops do after countless times. How many times do you have to read about a school incident and then the steps they've taken to bring in people to address the psychological outcomes? Will the military ever, ever get any of this right? The troops are only human with human emotions no matter how well they are trained and no matter how much the military tries to ignore this.

UPDATE
This came out today,,,,need I say more?

Early treatment is beneficial for patients with PTSD
June 17, 2009
Clinical question Is early treatment after a traumatic stress event beneficial?

Bottom line Identification of a traumatic stress event within 3 months and treatment using trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is beneficial for patients who meet DSM-IV criteria for the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is uncertain whether individuals would benefit if they are symptomatic but do not meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
go here for more
Early treatment is beneficial for patients with PTSD