http://www.massey.ac.nz/~trauma/issues/2001-2/greene.htm
This is a paper by Australian, Psychiatrist Dr. Claudia Greene, explaining and detailing her experiences with members of law enforcement that have used her personal practice services. It is a culmination of knowledge and experience, built around her 28 years of being a police psychiatrist, with observations made during over 3900 autopsies and 3200 death scene investigations along with about 15 years of informal follow up with the many officers she had worked with in the death scenes. It essentially highlights the experience, psychological effects, and feelings of these police officers anonymously.
She points out how that handling human remains, and death scenes can become routine to an officer, but regardless of age or experience on the force are not completely immune to the psychosensory effects that come along with these experiences. Many of these can become routine, but on occasion the magnitude of horror is so great that even the most experienced officer, who may not show outward emotional responses can suffer from longer term psychological effects that cause significant impairment.
It is also more of a subjective paper rather than an an academic one. Though it still is a very interesting read. It gave me an even greater appreciation for members of law enforcement, and some insight into the psychological effects and reactions that they have. Things like, types of reactions to bodies, lack of outward emotional responses, and dissociative, sensory, and arousal symptoms.There is also some insight as to why police officers often have trouble with their family life if their loved ones are ignorant to what to expect after an officer has seen an especially gruesome scene, and explains how the officer's priorities are cognitively effected and restructured. So while the wife may be screaming and vy upset about overdue bills or a child's misbehavior, the officer is busy contemplating deeper issues such as fragility of human life, seeking to search for what she calls "golden moments" to help restore trust and faith in their fellow man.
This is a paper by Australian, Psychiatrist Dr. Claudia Greene, explaining and detailing her experiences with members of law enforcement that have used her personal practice services. It is a culmination of knowledge and experience, built around her 28 years of being a police psychiatrist, with observations made during over 3900 autopsies and 3200 death scene investigations along with about 15 years of informal follow up with the many officers she had worked with in the death scenes. It essentially highlights the experience, psychological effects, and feelings of these police officers anonymously.
She points out how that handling human remains, and death scenes can become routine to an officer, but regardless of age or experience on the force are not completely immune to the psychosensory effects that come along with these experiences. Many of these can become routine, but on occasion the magnitude of horror is so great that even the most experienced officer, who may not show outward emotional responses can suffer from longer term psychological effects that cause significant impairment.
It is also more of a subjective paper rather than an an academic one. Though it still is a very interesting read. It gave me an even greater appreciation for members of law enforcement, and some insight into the psychological effects and reactions that they have. Things like, types of reactions to bodies, lack of outward emotional responses, and dissociative, sensory, and arousal symptoms.There is also some insight as to why police officers often have trouble with their family life if their loved ones are ignorant to what to expect after an officer has seen an especially gruesome scene, and explains how the officer's priorities are cognitively effected and restructured. So while the wife may be screaming and vy upset about overdue bills or a child's misbehavior, the officer is busy contemplating deeper issues such as fragility of human life, seeking to search for what she calls "golden moments" to help restore trust and faith in their fellow man.
Great post! I suppose I hadn't ever thought of this before you highlighted the gruesome tasks members of law enforcement must engage in. I am somewhat encouraged by the observation Dr. Greene has made though, that even when a job becomes a routine, responsibilities such as this require a certain level of humanity. I imagine though that the severity of the situation dictates whether or not a given event/crime scene has long term effects on someone though. For example, recall some of the Holocaust footage you have been exposed to in your education. Watching footage of massive numbers of human remains being pushed and buried by a bulldozer leaves a lasting impression on the viewer, I know that I have a vivid recollection of many of the scenes I have watched. Another example is one that I read somewhere about soldiers that have to carry their deceased comrades, they explain that they can still feel the "touch" of the deceased on their hands, long after they have been buried. I wonder what sort of therapies and interventions exist that may alleviate some of the distress those afflicted experience?