Reflection 5
Trauma, Firefighting and PTSD
By F. Katsovouni, E. Bebetos, P. Malliou, A. Beneka
https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article/66/1/32/2750638?lo
gin=true
The relationship between burnout, PTSD symptoms
and injuries in firefighters
Firefighters participate in activities with intense physical and psychological
stress. Firefighters work in physically and mentally demanding situations. Many
risks can lead to long term psychological effects. Hazardous working conditions
contribute to injuries and endanger their lives. Every year, many firefighters die in
the line of duty. Firefighters are not only exposed to ‘somatic trauma’ but also to
psychological trauma’. They are exposed to traumatic events as part of their
occupation and those involved in life threatening incidents. They can suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)Burnout can be defined as a long-term
reaction to occupational stress. This is high levels of emotional exhaustion (EE)
and depersonalization (DP) in relationships with a reduced level of personal
accomplishment.
I have a brother-in-law who is a firefighter. He has been doing this for 4
years. He loves his job. There is a lot that comes with it. He explains that a lot of
firefighters do feel intense stress when they are on the job. They never know what
they will encounter any day. Majority of the time, some of them might not make it
home. What is also worse is some might think if someone has died in a fire, they
didn’t do their job correctly. It is always a blame on oneself and sometimes there is
blame on other firefighters. This can lead to a lot of unanswered questions to some.
As a firefighter, my brother-in-law needs to attend therapy. He sometimes doesn’t
wat to go. He explains that it has been helping him lately. He did go through stress
and PTSD after an incident that almost killed his friends in a fire. This really put a
toll on him after the incident. He was required to seek therapy. He is glad that he
has been going because he would’ve been that person that ignored his symptoms.