The Psychology of the Firefighter

The Huffington Post:

Firefighters experience a steady onslaught of trauma and intense human emotion. Perilous flames, collapsing buildings, the anguish of burn victims, explosions, automobile accidents, suicide attempts, and even terrorist attacks, dismemberment and death. Such harrowing events come with the territory of first responders.

It would seem that such repeated exposure to adversity must, over time, take a psychological toll, challenging even the most seasoned firefighters. Yet that doesn’t seem to be the case. Contrary to our intuitions, studies find no consistent link between the extent of on-duty trauma experience and the eventual development of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Some firefighters cope poorly, while others with far more horrific experiences remain symptom-free. Why would that be?

…

The results, reported in a forthcoming issue of the journal Clinical Psychological Science, were consistent and clear. In short, the link between duty-related traumatic exposure and PTSD depended on regulatory flexibility. That is, firefighters with poor flexibility in choosing coping strategies showed more symptoms of PTSD as a consequence of extensive traumatic firefighting experiences, while those with more coping flexibility showed no change in PTSD symptoms as a consequence of such hard duty. This was true even when controlling for depression, intelligence and life trauma.

So how does this trait — flexibility in choosing coping strategies — exercise its influence on mental health? It’s not certain, but it appears that being able to match regulatory style to emotional events is a generally adaptive trait. It may be adaptive to disengage with some highly adverse emotional situations, but disengaging indiscriminately, even from tolerable situations, may increase risk of anxiety disorder.

Read the whole story: The Huffington Post

Wray Herbert is an author and award-winning journalist who writes two popular blogs for APS, We’re Only Human and Full Frontal Psychology. Follow Wray on Twitter @wrayherbert.