(Belga) More than one in seven officers of the local police in Flanders suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). De Standaard writes this on the basis of a study by KU Leuven among 1,896 police employees.
Among operational police officers, 7.4 percent reported that they suffered from the four symptoms of PTSD: reliving the incident, avoiding thoughts or situations reminiscent of the incident, excessive vigilance and tension, and a strong negative impact on daily functioning. Another 7.6 percent struggle with three of the four symptoms. “Everything indicates that this is the absolute lower limit,” says Nils Rentmeesters, researcher at the Faculty of Psychology at KU Leuven, author of the study and psychologist at the medical service of the federal police. “Agents tend to underestimate their complaints.” PTSD is mainly caused by incidents involving weapons, life-threatening situations, sexually transgressive behavior and incidents with a serious emotional impact. Striking: post-traumatic stress occurs just as often in the different police zones, just as it does among men and women and among different age categories. (Belgium)
Among operational police officers, 7.4 percent reported that they suffered from the four symptoms of PTSD: reliving the incident, avoiding thoughts or situations reminiscent of the incident, excessive vigilance and tension, and a strong negative impact on daily functioning. Another 7.6 percent struggle with three of the four symptoms. “Everything indicates that this is the absolute lower limit,” says Nils Rentmeesters, researcher at the Faculty of Psychology at KU Leuven, author of the study and psychologist at the medical service of the federal police. “Agents tend to underestimate their complaints.” PTSD is mainly caused by incidents involving weapons, life-threatening situations, sexually transgressive behavior and incidents with a serious emotional impact. Striking: post-traumatic stress occurs just as often in the different police zones, just as it does among men and women and among different age categories. (Belgium)
–
