Stress, Trauma, and Hypervigilance.
- Christopher Acord
- Aug 15, 2024
- 2 min read
Research Background Information.
Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Stress response is natural, normal and necessary; and is the result of evolutionary demands. Stress response is an organism’s response to a demand placed on it by an external stimuli or the human body’s reaction to a perceived threat or challenge. It is a universal adaptive reaction shared by all living things. Corrections employees experience stressful events throughout their careers. They receive hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of training on how to protect themselves and each other from various types of danger in the form of use of force, defensive tactics, weapons, CPR, emergency health care, and pathogens to name a few things.
Corrections employees expect to see violence, injury and death. How we train and mentally prepare can greatly affect our success at handling traumatic events. Resilience Training can have significant impact for inoculating corrections employees against all forms of stressful stimulus in the corrections industry. Corrections employees receiving and internalizing departmental Resilience Training, taking personal responsibility to develop the skills taught, and being mentally prepared are imperative to eliminate feelings of helplessness and horror associated with PTSD and the cumulative effects of recurring acute and chronic stress stimuli. Acute and chronic stress stimulus events produce countless negative effects on brain chemistry and hormones as well as on a person’s mental and emotional health. It is important to not overlook the long-term negative impact that a constant state of hypervigilance frame of mind can have on employee overall well-being and ultimately their behavior. The hypervigilant frame of mind is created in a profession that requires its employees to view everyone in their proximity as a potential threat; and, the mindset is exhausting due to the multiple detrimental behavioral outcomes:
Procrastination.
A desire to remain safely isolated at home alone a lot of the time.
An unwillingness to engage in activities or conversations that are not work related.
Socializing only with like-minded people (corrections, military, or law enforcement)
Non-involvement in family needs/activities.
Stop engaging in activities that used to bring pleasure to the employee
These behaviors result in possible mental health diagnoses, substance use disorders, and poor work performance resulting in employee discipline. The behaviors can also result in poor self-care, weight gain, and a pessimistic world view. The behaviors are likely to lead to poor family relationships. These are all measurements associated with the qualitative analysis of employee behavioral health. The implementation of resilience training seeks to mitigate the effects that acute, chronic, and traumatic stress events have on First Responders. This is a national corrections industry and first responder epidemic. If any agency improves the health and well-being of its' employees, they will flourish. If that agency treats its' employees like they are valued and make a difference, they will make a difference in the safety of their community.
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