How does anxiety show up for first responders?

Police officers, firefighters, emergency medical staff and other first responders face the unimaginable on a day to day basis. You experience and witness danger, grief and emotional turmoil more often than the average person.  Emergency personnel and first responders are dealing with conflict, death and life-threatening situations on a daily basis. How does this affect your mental health? Do you feel anxious? Have the relationships in your life changed? Over time you may find that you have become less emotional. How do you cope? All valid questions, right? Well.....

As a first responder, you are taught to control your emotions while facing difficult situations. You are also taught to be strong, to diffuse high conflict circumstances all while being stoic. And then at the end of shift, you are expected to go home and be a loving father, mother, partner, friend and live life as if nothing happened during your shift.  Over time this can affect your mental well-being causing anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.  You know that things aren’t quite right, but you aren’t sure how anxiety shows up for first responders. That is why this discussion is so important!! 

Let's narrow in on how anxiety can show up in a first responder’s life.  Start to imagine a day in a police officer’s boots: 

They leave their home for a shift, arrive at the station, grab the keys to their patrol car for the day and head in for a patrol meeting to be briefed on current situations such as wanted people or be assigned investigations for that day.  They finally leave the station to go grab a hot coffee or tea and just after taking the first sip they are dispatched to a domestic disturbance.  After diffusing the crisis between the irate and possibly intoxicated couple at 8-9:00 AM, they provide the couple with advice and community resources. They depart from the scene and find a quiet place to park to finally enjoy their morning coffee, they start to type the report on the domestic disturbance but before being able to finish the report, dispatch calls on the radio and sends them to back up a fellow officer on a weapons offence/wanted person who is barricaded in a home refusing to surrender.  The officer quickly buckles up, activates their lights and sirens and as fast as possible travels to the scene to help protect his family in blue. After 4 long hours of negotiating, having his/her firearm drawn and being on high alert for hours, the suspect surrenders. The officer reholsters his firearm, gets back in his car to find his coffee has gone cold and realizes he hasn’t eaten yet today and it’s now 4:00 PM. He still has to finish his report from the domestic and now has about 2 hours of report writing for the call that just ended. He finishes his paperwork and remembers that he promised a lady last shift that he would stop by and see her grandchildren because the children love police cars. He shows up smiling and caring for the children he doesn’t know but inside the officer is exhausted and hungry.  With the shift finally over, the officer gets to return home.  He/She returns home to the family. There are demands such as laundry, supper, homework,  no time to relax or diffuse after such a long day. Life doesn’t pause to allow them to process the day...it continues on through the emotional exhaustion day after day, shift after shift. 

So you ask, why does this matter? 

Why? 

Because over time if the feelings and trauma that first responders experience are not recognized and/or talked about, you will experience immense amounts of stress which can lead to mental health struggles. THEREFORE emotion awareness, building resiliency and recognizing that it is okay to talk about your feelings can lessen symptoms of anxiety, save relationships and create positive life changes.  In my experience first responders are not the best at expressing their feelings and/or coping with the situations they face on the job. Most times, discussions are avoided until it’s too late...creating marital problems, symptoms of anxiety, depression and withdrawal from family and friends.  

Believe it or not, there is still a stigma attached to counselling and is one reason why first responders do not feel open to the idea of talking with a therapist. BECAUSE YOU ARE A HERO AND HEROS DON’T STRUGGLE RIGHT? THEY HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL.  Unfortunately, appointments are made only when the struggle has become so large and real that first responders throw in the towel.  

So… what are some symptoms of anxiety that you, as a first responder should be aware of?

Here are just a few:  

• not being able to focus on simple tasks when you aren’t at work, 

• feeling exhausted or not being able to sleep 

• eating too much or not eating at all

• overthinking situations

• obsessive thoughts

• not being able to cope with uncertain feelings

• using substances to feel normal.  

It’s okay if you are experiencing one or more of these symptoms, that means you are self-aware and recognizing that maybe you should talk with a professional therapist. Applaud yourself for taking the time and reading this post! 

NOW….

Take a minute and listen to your thoughts, think about your behaviours, have you 

• been short-tempered

• angry

• confused

• worried

• sad 

• withdrawn?

If you resonate with any of these or think you may be experiencing anxiety, my hope is that you are able and willing to reach out and talk about your feelings and the difficult situations you have faced as a first responder or as a loved one of a first responder.  

Some skills and techniques that I find work to help lessen anxious feelings are mindfulness, breathing techniques and physical activity. 

Here is one for you to try…. 

Sit in a comfortable location and then…..

Focus on something you hear, recognize it as you breathe in, breathe out. 

Focus on something you smell, recognize it, as you breathe in, breathe out. 

Focus on something you can touch (the table, couch, chair, your pants) recognize it as you breathe in, breathe out. 

It’s okay if your mind wanders off.  Deal with the thought and then come back to the exercise and continue on. 

Focus on something you can taste or what you ate last, recognize it as you breathe in, breathe out. 

Focus on something you can see, recognize it as you breathe in, breathe out. 

Congratulations on practising a grounding technique!  It is my hope that you will find it to be useful to manage any anxious feelings you may have.  I would also encourage you to seek out some support from a professional to help you process some of the experiences that you have at work and the emotions that arise from them.

Angela Davison is a Canadian Certified Counsellor who does her best work with first responders and couples, working from a trauma-informed approach and with an intimate understanding of the first responder and their unique life experiences.