CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION AND DESIGN OF THE STUDY INTRODUCTION Stress

Stress is your body's way of responding to any kind of demand. It can be caused by both good and bad experiences. When people feel stressed by something going on around them, their bodies react by releasing chemicals into the blood. These chemicals give people more energy and strength, which can be a good thing if their stress is caused by physical danger. But this can also be a bad thing, if their stress is in response to something emotional and there is no outlet for this extra energy and strength. This class will discuss different causes of stress, how stress affects you, the difference between 'good' or 'positive' stress and 'bad' or 'negative' stress, and some common facts about how stress affects people today. Stress affects most people in some way. Acute (sudden, short-term) stress leads to rapid changes throughout the body. Almost all body systems (the heart and blood vessels, the immune system, the lungs, the digestive system, the sensory organs, and brain) gear up to meet perceived danger.

These stresses could prove beneficial in a critical, life-or-death situation. Over time, however, repeated stressful situations put a strain on the body that may contribute to physical and psychological problems. Chronic (long-term) stress can have real health consequences and should be addressed like any other health

concern.Fortunately, research is showing that lifestyle changes and stressreduction techniques can help people learn to manage their stress.

What Causes Stress

Many different things can cause stress -- from physical (such as fear of
something dangerous) to emotional (such as worry over your family or job.) Identifying what may be causing you stress is often the first step in learning how to better deal with your stress. Some of the most common sources of stress are:

Survival Stress - You may have heard the phrase "fight or flight" before. This is a
common response to danger in all people and animals. When you are afraid that someone or something may physically hurt you, your body naturally responds with a burst of energy so that you will be better able to survive the dangerous situation (fight) or escape it all together (flight). This is survival stress.

Internal Stress - Have you ever caught yourself worrying about things you can
do nothing about or worrying for no reason at all? This is internal stress and it is one of the most important kinds of stress to understand and manage. Internal stress is when people make themselves stressed. This often happens when we

worry about things we can't control or put ourselves in situations we know will cause us stress. Some people become addicted to the kind of hurried, tense, lifestyle that results from being under stress. They even look for stressful situations and feel stress about things that aren't stressful.

Environmental Stress - This is a response to things around you that cause

stress, such as noise, crowding, and pressure from work or family. Identifying these environmental stresses and learning to avoid them or deal with them will help lower your stress level.

Fatigue and Overwork - This kind of stress builds up over a long time and can
take a hard toll on your body. It can be caused by working too much or too hard at your job(s), school, or home. It can also be caused by not knowing how to manage your time well or how to take time out for rest and relaxation. This can be one of the hardest kinds of stress to avoid because many people feel this is out of their control. Later in this course we will show you that you DO have options and offer some useful tips for dealing with fatigue.

Stress Management
There are probably as many definitions for stress as there are people who experience stress as it is a very personalised experience. Stress can be extremely

positive and in many cases is essential if we are to respond quickly to harmful situations.

However, what everybody agrees is that stress can be seriously harmful to an individual if its negative effects are not recognised and managed. The Health and Safety Executive, for example, has identified a definite link between stress and ill health and Personnel Today reports that it is leading to over 105 million work days being lost each year. This is before we begin to consider the emotional and psychological effects that result from stress and the impact it can have on an individual's general wellbeing and relationships.

Stress, like everything else, can be managed effectively. The first step is to understand fully what is causing the difficulty and to be clear about the triggers that lead to feelings of 'not being able to cope'. Once this is done there is a wide range of tools, techniques and therapeutic treatments that can be used to tackle the stress and to make you less likely to experience stress in the future.

Stress management in police department

Benefits of Stress Management

Ideally, stress management needs to begin when were young so that we dont have battered, scarred trunks when we reach mid life and beyond. But, the reality is, most of us never consider stress as damaging ...until weve been reacting to it for a long time. The good news about our amazing bodies is that once we identify the stressors and make some definite life style changes, we can often reverse a lot of the damage. Sort of like being able to get some wood filler, apply it to the nicks on the tree trunk, then sand it down to recreate a smooth finish on your trunk. Stress management can really promote better health.

What are some of the benefits of stress reduction

Better immune function

Less illnesses and physical complaints

More energy

Feeling more relaxed

Sleeping better

Better digestion

Calmer mood

More focused, more positive

Measuring stress

Levels of stress can be measured. One way is through the use of psychological testing: the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale is used to rate stressful life events, while the DASS contains a scale for stress based on self-report items. Changes in blood pressure and galvanic skin response can also be measured to test stress levels, and changes in stress levels. A digital thermometer can be used to evaluate changes in skin temperature, which can indicate activation of the fight-or-flight response drawing blood away from the extremities.

THE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON POLICE OFFICERS

The following is the text of a speech give by Dan Goldfarb to a group of union delegates on the impact stress can have on their men.

There has been a lot of research on the negative effects of stress on people in general. I am sure you know that police work is one of the top rated professions for job stress next to air traffic controllers and dentists. A good way to start this presentation, I think, is to give a good working definition of police stress I have seen the following definition around enough to realize that many who are reading this are already familiar with this excellent definition. What I like about the following definition is that it is not just scientific, but gives an idea of what stress is, relates very well to the police job, and can even give us an idea of what cops may need to do to help themselves with stress. Okay, here it is: That feeling and desire along with the ensuing bodily effects, experienced by a person who has a strong and true longing to choke the living shit out of someone who desperately deserves it, but you can't. Now, while this may sound funny there is a real element of truth to it. An element of truth that says an awful lot about police work. And that is the part of the definition "......BUT YOU CAN'T". Police work, by it's very nature, calls for an

incredible amount of restraint. Continual restraint. Draining restraint. It is stressful. The demands on police officers to show ever greater restraint have been increasing over the years, and not so coincidentally has the effects of stress on police work. With the recent attention that police suicide has received in the media there have been a number of reviews on police suicide. I came across an interesting statistic. Between 1934 and 1960 police suicide rates were half that of the general population. Between 1980 to the present, suicide rates in some departments almost approach double! What is the difference? YOU CAN'T CHOKE EM ANYMORE! Street justice is all but gone. Everyone has video cameras. The media gets off on putting down cops. Politicians continue to pander to the public with new laws and restrictions for police officers that further tie their hands, and YOU CAN'T CHOKE ANYONE WITH YOUR HANDS TIED! So you start to feel that you're choking yourself. If we take a quick overview of police work and look at the research of what the biggest stressors are, we find: Killing someone in the line of duty. Having you partner killed in the line of duty. Lack of support by the department/bosses. Shiftwork and disruption of family time/family rituals. The daily grind of dealing with the stupidity of the public, or the "asshole factor". Interestingly, physical danger is ranked low on the list of stressors by police officers!

One of the worst effects of stress on police officers is of course suicide. We are becoming all too familiar with police suicide especially with the attention the media has given New York City. Twice as many police officers die by their own hand as do in the line of duty! A study of 2376 Buffalo NY police officers found that compared to the white male population police officers had higher mortality rates for cancer, suicide, and heart disease. The suggested reason: Higher stress levels. What is going on? Every study done points to the higher levels of stress police officers face, but what form does that stress take? With suicide there seem to be four factors: 1. Divorce. 2.Alcohol - not alcoholism. That was one of the early theories. But in actuality it was the use of alcohol right before the act to "get up the nerve". 3. Depression. 4. A failure to get help. (Most officers who commit suicide have no history of having sought counseling).

All four factors are symptoms that can stem from an officer's stress levels. Police suicide is more directly related to relationship problems than to job stress! Of the last 14 suicides among the police officers in New York City, 12, or 86%, had to due with divorce or relationship breakup. Police officers going through a divorce are 5 times more likely to commit suicide that and officer in a stable marriage! Relationship problems, however, are highly related to job stress. The circle is complete! If we consider that officers have an important relationship with their department, we can examine the effect of that relationship gone bad.

Officers who get in serious trouble on the job, suspended or facing termination, are 7 times more likely to commit suicide. (Apparently cops like their jobs better than their wives). So we see that stress has a profound effect on police officers lives, especially their home lives. Studies have called police work a "high risk lifestyle". Not high risk in terms of the physical dangers of the job, but a high risk in terms of developing attitudinal problems, behavioral problems, and intimacy and relationship problems. So you learn something about the effects of police work. You learn if you ask the average cop "Hey, what's been the scariest experience during your police career?" They will answer "My first marriage!" The national divorce rate is 50%. All research shows police suffer a substantially higher divorce rate with estimates ranging from 60 to 75%. One of the casualties of police work is often the marriage. A police marriage, after all, is like a hurricane. A lot of sucking and blowing in the begging but in the end you lose your house. One poor (literally) officer I knew who had a few marriages gone bad told me, "If I ever decide to marry again, I'm just gonna find a woman I don't like very much and buy her a house". As a police officer progresses in his/her career is the eroding of the attitudes. As noted above, police work presents a high risk of developing attitudinal problems. As a police officer's career progresses, they become more cynical. No one questions this anymore

The only questions in the research are how cynical and how soon. Some studies suggest that cynicism can be seen developing in the academy and just gets worse from there. So, what is the problem with becoming cynical? Life is like an airplane. An airplane has four forces working on it. Gravity pulls it down. But the wings can produce lift, which picks it up. The engines produce thrust. But the air around the plane produces drag or resistance. In order to fly a pilot will take the plane, point it into the greatest amount of resistance (into the wind), and add the maximum amount of thrust. Maximum thrust into maximum resistance produces lift. Once airborne your height or elevation is controlled by attitude. If you pull back on the stick the nose of the plane points up. You have a positive attitude and will climb. If you push the stick forward you have a negative attitude and will fall. Fall far enough and you will crash. The problem with cynicism is that destroys all attitude. All attitude becomes negative and thus the cynic will eventually crash. Cops more than people in any other profession are in continual danger of becoming cynics. In continual danger of crashing! It is, I think, an officers job and duty (especially to his family) not to crash. Too much is at stake. Staying psychologically fit means committing to take care of yourself. It takes work. The greater the stress, the greater the need to apply maximum thrust into this resistance! For the average officer possibly the hardest job of staying healthy is to admit that he/she has a problem. The second hardest feat is the willingness to get help. I have often marveled at how police officers, whose careers are centered on helping

others, have so much trouble accepting help. On the other hand, I have also marveled at the difficult jobs the officers I have worked with have undertaken and succeeded at. Both on and off the job.

Demerits of stress
Stress management is the alteration of stress and especially chronic stress often for the purpose of improving everyday functioning.

Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according to persons, situations, and severity. These can include physical health decline as well as depression. According to the St. Louis Psychologists and Counseling Information and Referral, the process of stress management is one of the keys to a happy and successful life in modern society. Although life provides numerous demands that can prove difficult to handle, stress management is the best way to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being. More information is provided below on how to measure stress levels, learn about stress management models and practice techniques that will help to reduce stress and promote a positive lifestyle.

Signs & Symptoms

The body and the mind react to any stress factor. A large number of physical changes take place at the time of stress induced arousal. The brain and nervous system become intensely active, the pupils of the eye dilate, digestion slows

down, muscles become tense, the heart starts pumping blood harder and faster, blood pressure increases , breathing become faster, hormones such as adrenalin are released into the system along with glucose from the liver and sweating starts.

All these changes take place in a split second under the direction of the nervous system. If the stress factors are immediately removed, no harm accrues and all the changes are reversed.

Stress in its earlier and reversible stage leads to poor sleep, bad temper, continual grumbling, longer hours of work with less achievement, domestic conflict with spouse and children, repeated minor sickness, absenteeism and prolonged absence for each spell of sickness, accident proneness, feeling of frustration and persecution by colleagues and complaints of lack of cooperation and increase in alcoholic intake.

It is essential that these symptoms are recognised early by the patients or their well-wishers and remedies measures taken to overcome them.

If, however, stress is continuous or repeated frequently, a variety of symptoms appear such as dizziness, stiff muscles, headache, vision problems, breathing difficulties, asthma, allergies, palpitation, digestive disorders, blood sugar irregularities, backache, skin disorders, bowel disorders and sexual difficulties

The physical symptoms of anxiety are caused by the brain sending messages to parts of the body to prepare for the "fight or flight" response.

The heart, lungs and other parts of the body work faster. The brain also releases stress hormones, including adrenaline. Common indicators of excessive anxiety include:

Diarrhea Dry mouth Rapid heartbeat or palpitations

 Insomnia Irritability or anger Inability to concentrate Fear of being crazy Feeling unreal and not in control of your actions which is called depersonalization Headaches Indigestion Palpitations Breathlessness Nausea Muscle twitches Tiredness Vague aches and pains Skin irritation or rashes Susceptibility to allergies Excessive sweating Clenched fist or jaws

 Fainting Rapid weight gain or loss

Mental Signs

decisions

Emotional Signs

anxious

Behavioural Signs

ciable

sex

-social behaviour

driving

Importance of the study

Recently, especially after the 9-11 tragedy, people have begun to look at police officers and law enforcement specialists as strong individuals, rightfully earning the lofty "Finest" title. They are tough, rough, and always ready to protect and serve. Law-abiding civilians feel safer when there are police officers on regular patrol in their neighborhoods and communities, and citizens living in safe localities often carry out useful, happy, stress-free lives.

Yet, in keeping their pillar-of-strength perceptions, police officers tend to keep to themselves when it comes to their own personal trials and tribulations. They regularly deal with the worst of what society has to offer, and they make special sacrifices to maintain the peace. In the process, doing their duty slowly eats away at their own health and satisfaction in life.

To make matters worse, police officers operate on a less social manner than other public safety and emergency service workers. Paramedics and firefighters are trained to work as a group, but they do not pound the streets as police officers do. This results in police officers being spread too thinly to cover their areas of jurisdiction, often having to work alone or with one partner.

A police officer's career is marked by frequent encounters with violence and recklessness. The very ills of society that distress civilians so much also have negative effects on a police officer's psyche. As the stress of police duty builds up, the police officer may soon experience bouts of anger, depression, or disillusion. Over time, these psychological indispositions may cause strained relationships with co-workers, friends, and family, and ultimately lead to resignation, early retirement, or - worst of all - suicide. Yes, it has happened before. Police officers who have recently gone through a particularly traumatic experience on the job, such as the death of a partner or a horribly gruesome crime scene, can be made to undergo psychotherapy. This allows them to cope with the debilitating stress that these encounters saturate them with.

Today, police precincts make it a point to have a number of fulltime counselors as part of the roster. With the help of chaplains and other support workers, the presence of these counselors keeps the tension down in the

work environment, allowing police officers and other workers in law enforcement to work as smoothly and normally as possible. Being aware of the stresses that police officers and other law enforcement specialists undergo on a regular basis really puts things in perspective for the rest of us, doesn't it? Too often, being so caught up in our own petty stresses can make us forget that there are brave men and women out there who make our safety and happiness their concern. The mere knowledge of the sacrifices they make for us should be enough to let us sit back, laugh at ourselves, and be grateful for having stresses as trivial as they can possibly be.

Statement of problem

Recent studies about the psychological health of police officers have taken note of these occurrences. Most often these are signs of the progression of a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD usually starts with the police officer encountering a particularly disturbing incident during police duty that he can't possibly deal with all at once. PTSD is a severe illness that grows worse with each passing year it is left untreated.

As it goes without saying that police officers have perhaps the most stressful jobs in the civilian world, they also need a measure of stress management to help them cope with the rigors of police duty. Over the years, special stress

management programs have been made for police officers and other workers in law enforcement. To varying degrees, these stress management programs differ from those offered for civilians and the wage-earning population.

Stress management in law enforcement includes regular psychological therapy. Police officers may be made to undergo sessions with a therapist. These can coax the police officer to identify any woes he might have with his career and ultimately arrive at beneficial solutions. Therapy sessions aim to educate the police officer in interpreting his/her own reactions to stimuli, resulting in smarter reactions to stress.

Stress management in law enforcement also includes anger management. In anger management, police officers are taught to identify the triggers that causes aggression in them, as well as methods to contain and defuse those triggers. Anger management also teaches police officers how to detect and prevent hostile situations from ever occurring, which in turn can be applied in settling civilian disputes. Perhaps most importantly, anger management develops the police officer's emotional intelligence, allowing them to prevent and manage their stress by themselves, either on or off the clock.

Review of literature