?? Ptsd or not ??

[bpd35]

Alright here goes . Got a question for all the fellow LE's out there. I have a friend who was involved in a shooting in 2001. Its a rather odd situation but the more I talk to him the more I am thinking he might have ptsd.

He has a hard time sleeping well. Works third shift and cant relax at all. By that meaning he has to be wired so he dont " Miss anything " by drinking tons of coffee.

I believe he also suffers from a bit of depression as well.

Tell me what you think

[dep214]

more than will admite suffer from depression. a great deal have ptsd.when i retired i could not sleep and kept having bad dreams. i never wanted to leave the house.my wife drug my butt to a doc to get me checked out. i thought i was going nuts.after a few visits the doc said i had ptsd pretty bad. i was even suicidal at one point. i just did not understand.the doc gave me meds and i feel a great deal better.tell your buddy to see a doc. it can help him. i wish you luck.the ptsd never seems to be 100% gone but it is under control

[steelcityk9cop]

I had a guy who climbed up on the roof of a house once.... he ripped the chimney off of the house with his bare hands (was realy tanked up on booze and cocaine) and started throwing bricks at me from the roof. At one point he began to try to swing off of the roof on the electric line running from the telephone pole. Needless to say, I watched him fall in slow motion about 40 feet. I had a hard time with that for a little while...... seemed to get better the more jokes that were made about the incident. Thank God we have humor to get us past the PTSD incidents.

Looking back I also had an incident where I was attacked by an EDP with a hatchet..... totally different result though.... made me a bit more aware of my surroundings from that point on.

[Babysmamadrama]

Did he get any counseling after the shoot? We have a employee assistance program where we can get counseling for free. I used it once, to save my marriage. See if you have something similiar and see if your buddy is willing to go. The hardest step may be for him to recognise he has some residual issues about the shoot.

[sgtbear111]

People faced with an unusual or horrible situation find their miind cannot process all they had dumped on them. PTSD is the damage done to a person's psyche by overwhelming bad stuff. Shootings, plane wrecks, car wrecks, death in family, fishing a drowned kid from a lake, etc. are examples of the bad stuff. PTSD goes hand in hand with depression. Suidcide is also a concern.

Symptoms are sleep loss, anger, depression, memory loss, nightmares, etc. PTSD doesnt go away by itself. Treatment is available and if you think you have it from a shooting or other incident, you can get help. Consult your physician and get a referral to a Psychiatrist or Cliinical Psychologist. Peer support helps too.

Military.com has a PTSD thread worth looking at.
http://forums.military.com/1/OpenTop...8&f=6831984016

[bpd35]

Along with the shooting around the same time. His wife ( ya get this ) cheated on him and ended up getting pregnant by another man. So he was a tad stressed and all in the same time frame.

I know he feels tired all the time now . He wont admit it but I think he tried anti-depressants but said something about it screwing up his sex life. LOL.

He never did go to a shrink . He advised me that he didnt believe in them . He talked to the Police Chaplain for awhile but i dont know. He's a damn good cop just seems to be very nervous around people ( not trusting at all ) anymore and is always coffee wired now . He said he does this because the night of the incident he was tired and if he wasnt tired he might have been able to do something that could have avoided the situation.

BTW it was a clear shoot.

[scott715us]

He needs to seek counseling or a psychologist/psychiatrist. In this profession, along with firefighting/EMS, there are alot of folks that do not want to seek help because of fear of looking weak, etc. That's the worst thing they can do. I had psychology as a minor in college, and it does sound a bit like some of the symptoms. He may be able to hold up on his own for awhile, but it will probably affect more severely as time goes by.

The only problem is getting the person into the counseling. Usually, it will come down to wanting to go. If they don't want to do it, you have a long road ahead. Best of luck. ;)

[MORA Ranger]

Recommended reading: Deadly Force Encounters, and Force Under Pressure: Why cops live and how they die. I don't have the author for the first one, second is Blum, I think. Good reading.

[greenlead]

http://www.tearsofacop.com is an excellent site to look at regarding PTSD.

[dep214]

you have to fist admit that something is wrong. admitting this does not make you less of a man.