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Understanding the Impact: How Does Frontline Work Contribute to PTSD?

  • Writer: Destiny Johnston-Halas
    Destiny Johnston-Halas
  • Jun 1, 2024
  • 5 min read

Updated: Jun 13, 2024

Have you ever really taken the time to think about what a soldier, police officer, firefighter, paramedic, or healthcare staff have ever had to see or deal with?


The folks working these jobs are exposed to all types of stressors. They have to experience death, violence, and physical/verbal abuse amongst other things. Add this to continuous stress placed on them from their workplaces, home life, and wherever else and you have a recipe for PTSD. PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder can develop after a very stressful, frightening or distressing event. Some events include serious accidents, physical or sexual assault, exposure to traumatic events at work, war and conflict, or torture.


PTSD can cause re-experiencing symptoms, avoidance symptoms, arousal and reactivity symptoms, and cognition and mood symptoms.


The re-experiencing symptoms include:

  • Experiencing flashbacks or reliving the traumatic event; which can also present as physical symptoms like racing heart or excessive sweating

  • Having recurring dreams or memories related to the event

  • Having distressing thoughts

  • Experiencing physical signs of stress

Avoidance symptoms include:

  • Staying away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of the traumatic experience

  • Avoiding thoughts or feelings related to the event

Arousal and reactivity symptoms include:

  • Being easily startled

  • Feeling intense, on guard, or on edge

  • Having difficulty concentrating

  • Having troubles falling asleep or staying asleep

  • Feeling irritable and having aggressive outbursts

  • Engaging in risky, reckless, or destructive behavior

Cognition and mood symptoms include:

  • Having trouble remembering key features of the traumatic event

  • Having negative thoughts about oneself or the world

  • Having exaggerated feelings of blame directed at oneself or others

  • Having ongoing negative emotions such as anger, fear, guilt and shame

  • Losing interest in enjoyable activities

  • Having feelings of social isolation

  • Having difficulty having positive emotions like happiness or satisfaction

After reading that, can you think of a time while you were at work and were exposed to something traumatic? Do you ever blame yourself for something that happened in your job, either to you or another person that was in your care?


In part of my nursing career (which is still ongoing) I was stuck in a room with a very aggressive patient (mind you he was very confused with dementia) but he was strong, and big. My instincts as a nurse are to not allow a patient to fall on their face and in trying to help this patient not fall on his face he physically assaulted me. I tried to rip the call bell out of the wall for help, but to my avail, the call bell did not work.


I ended up calling for help, and people came to help me. Luckily this patient was sedated slightly from his bedtime medications, but the situation could have been so much worse.


Unfortunately there are so many that are not so lucky in that situation. I look back at this situation and think of all the memes out there that basically say that management will say, "What could you have done differently?" I did what I could, I remained calm with a calm approach, and yet still I ended up in that situation. I don't blame myself, and I don't blame him... but it's situations like that, where often the finger is pointed at the staff member who eventually ends up replaying the situation repeatedly in their head. It's no wonder why the PTSD rates are so prevalent in jobs like this, mainly because if an event was not seen by someone else... it didn't happen.

Recently I talked to a lady that is a nurse too. We were sharing nursing stories, and she told me that she was physically assaulted at work and was further diagnosed with PTSD from that assault.


Because the assault was unwitnessed, compensation could not be provided for her leave because they could not prove that the assault was what caused her PTSD (even after receiving a diagnosis from a psychiatrist). At that time she decided to change careers, and stayed casual at the place she was working at to make ends meet.


Overall the lack of support and lack of belief in her assault lead her to wanting to leave nursing. Currently she still works in the place where the incident occurred and feels that it is hard to heal because of the lack of support. She stated in her conversation with me,


"I know my limitations and abilities as a nurse and do not have concerns about patient safety, however I know that I cannot work more than two shifts in a row or I start to feel my mental health worsen. [...] it's so difficult to have to leave my career because it will not be accommodated due to lack of witnesses or inconclusive proof."


Unfortunately, so many people in these lines of work experience the same thing.


The Canadian Federation of Nurses Union did a study on Nurses and found that 23% of the participants screened positive for current symptoms consistent with PTSD.


Another study done by Wilson, Guiliani, and Boichev (2016) reported lifetime PTSD prevalence rates of 26% for Canadian paramedics.


30% of Police officers in Canada are within the clinical diagnostic range of PTSD.


Though I couldn't find a definite number for PTSD specifically, 34.1% of Canadian firefighters display mental health symptoms.


I'm sure I could go on and on with different statistics... but just look at those. Those are scary and alarming rates. With more complex cases being seen by all of these professions, the stats are surely to go up.


It is not an easy job, what any frontline worker does.


I am currently working on partnering with a PTSD program in Canada in order to help facilitate a peer-focused group in my area.


If you are struggling with PTSD, or know someone that is... Find a peer-group, OSI-CAN offers peer support groups that aim to help those going through PTSD by having group sessions.


You can also seek help from a professional therapist, psychiatrist, or counsellor.


Know that you are not alone. Even if it does not seem like it, if one of us is hurting then all of us are hurting in some way.


Keep frontline workers in your mind, and remember that they are only human too and that they too have feelings, and deal with things differently. They see things that most average people do not see within their days.


Thank you to everyone for your continued support of this blog and this initiative. The following and amount of people reaching out has just blown me away. Much love to all frontline workers near and far, know that I am rooting for you. <3


-Destiny J






 
 
 

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