Fighting the Enemy Within the Fortress

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating psychological health condition that jeopardizes the wellbeing, holistic health and functioning of police officers following exposure to traumatic, stressful, and life-threatening experiences. While resiliency is expected of officers, the recurrent encounter to traumatic incidents eventually influences the expression of symptoms that collectively constitutes PTSD. In addition to exploring the definition of PTSD and how it affects officers, this paper intends to inform police officers suffering from PTSD of the availability of effective treatments (e.g., prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy) and to explain major parts of PTSD treatment to ensure officers are able to understand the processes involved in the treatment. This article hopes to clear up any skepticism about the efficacy of PTSD treatment and help officers become more informed about PTSD treatment.