FireEMTGuy
12-26-2004, 12:14 PM
The following is cited from: Shocks to The System; Psychotherapy of Traumatic Disability Syndromes, By Laurence Miller, 1998.
Firefighters
Every child hears the story about brave firefighters battling blazes and rescuing hapless citizens from infernal doom. Firefighters routinely display exceptional skill and bravery in the performance of their duties, but as in any role that involves dealing with life threatening emergencies, stress can take its toll. According to the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, firefighting is the single most hazardous occupation in the United States. Every day approximately 280 firefighters are killed or injured, and each year over 650 are forced to retire due to occupational illness, including psychological disability (Hildebrand, 1984a, 1984b).
In February 1983, a huge brush fire tore through a large tract of South Australia (McFarlane, 1988.) Battling the blaze required the efforts of several thousand trained volunteer firefighters, many of them whom were exposed to extreme danger. About half of the firefighters showed symptoms of PTSD within the first four months of the event, and two thirds of these continued to show symptoms several years after. A interaction between premorbid history and the current stressor was seen, in that a firefighter was more likely to have persistent PTST if (1) he had suffered one or more personal crises prior to the fire; (2) he had a history of prior treatment for mental disorder; (3) he showed evidence of neuroticism on psychological testing; or (4) he had a characteristic tendency to avoid thinking about negative experiences.
Even less dramatic experiences can produce cumulative stress effects over the course of a firefighter's career. In addition to fires, firefighters must periodically deal with crimes, suicides, accidents, medical emergencies, toxic spills, and bomb explosions. In a study of the Toronto Fire Department (DeAngelis, 1995), firefighters confronted an average of 3.91 such traumatic experiences per year. In the last year of the study, these included rescuing citizens from a deadly ammonia cloud, recovering a woman’s severed head in an industrial accident, and dealing with various and sundry stabbings and suicides. Compared to a 1 percent rate for the general population, the prevalence rate of diagnosable PTSD for firefighters was 16.5 percent – 1 percent higher than PTSD rates for Vietnam veterans. Personal injury on the job was also a factor in psychological disability, as was organizational stress with respect to the department, job demands, and promotion conflicts.
Several positive stress-buffers were identified in the Toronto study (DeAngelis, 1995). Firefighters who were able to discuss problems with peers and who felt that their supervisors backed them up were 40 percent less likely to develop PTSD than those who did not get such administrative support. Similarly, family support decreased firefighters’ chances of developing PTSD by 40 percent. In addition, self-help support groups allowed firefighters to feel that they were not the only ones to have experienced these problems and to break the conspiracy of silence that typically characterizes firefighters’ reactions to trauma.
Just thought I would share this with you all. Everyone in your department has a role in CISD, regardless of whether you have a CISD session or not. You have to help your fellow firefighter and in turn they may have to help you. No firefighter is immune to these feelings, and no firefighter should be expected to be. We are all human, and we all have emotions and normal reactions to traumatic events.
Take care and be safe in the upcoming year.
Firefighters
Every child hears the story about brave firefighters battling blazes and rescuing hapless citizens from infernal doom. Firefighters routinely display exceptional skill and bravery in the performance of their duties, but as in any role that involves dealing with life threatening emergencies, stress can take its toll. According to the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, firefighting is the single most hazardous occupation in the United States. Every day approximately 280 firefighters are killed or injured, and each year over 650 are forced to retire due to occupational illness, including psychological disability (Hildebrand, 1984a, 1984b).
In February 1983, a huge brush fire tore through a large tract of South Australia (McFarlane, 1988.) Battling the blaze required the efforts of several thousand trained volunteer firefighters, many of them whom were exposed to extreme danger. About half of the firefighters showed symptoms of PTSD within the first four months of the event, and two thirds of these continued to show symptoms several years after. A interaction between premorbid history and the current stressor was seen, in that a firefighter was more likely to have persistent PTST if (1) he had suffered one or more personal crises prior to the fire; (2) he had a history of prior treatment for mental disorder; (3) he showed evidence of neuroticism on psychological testing; or (4) he had a characteristic tendency to avoid thinking about negative experiences.
Even less dramatic experiences can produce cumulative stress effects over the course of a firefighter's career. In addition to fires, firefighters must periodically deal with crimes, suicides, accidents, medical emergencies, toxic spills, and bomb explosions. In a study of the Toronto Fire Department (DeAngelis, 1995), firefighters confronted an average of 3.91 such traumatic experiences per year. In the last year of the study, these included rescuing citizens from a deadly ammonia cloud, recovering a woman’s severed head in an industrial accident, and dealing with various and sundry stabbings and suicides. Compared to a 1 percent rate for the general population, the prevalence rate of diagnosable PTSD for firefighters was 16.5 percent – 1 percent higher than PTSD rates for Vietnam veterans. Personal injury on the job was also a factor in psychological disability, as was organizational stress with respect to the department, job demands, and promotion conflicts.
Several positive stress-buffers were identified in the Toronto study (DeAngelis, 1995). Firefighters who were able to discuss problems with peers and who felt that their supervisors backed them up were 40 percent less likely to develop PTSD than those who did not get such administrative support. Similarly, family support decreased firefighters’ chances of developing PTSD by 40 percent. In addition, self-help support groups allowed firefighters to feel that they were not the only ones to have experienced these problems and to break the conspiracy of silence that typically characterizes firefighters’ reactions to trauma.
Just thought I would share this with you all. Everyone in your department has a role in CISD, regardless of whether you have a CISD session or not. You have to help your fellow firefighter and in turn they may have to help you. No firefighter is immune to these feelings, and no firefighter should be expected to be. We are all human, and we all have emotions and normal reactions to traumatic events.
Take care and be safe in the upcoming year.