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When it comes to being a firefighter, you are expected to remain calm, level-headed, and capable of dealing with most of the challenging situations without fear. Most people in this job need to keep a tight hold on their emotions and approach their jobs with logic and reason. They should understand that only those who can successfully handle their stress and emotional factors of the job are cut out for success.
Firefighters are highly aware of this, and it can cause them to suppress their feelings. That can result in devastating consequences to their mental health over time. Studies have shown that a significant number of firefighters have experienced mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal thoughts.
For instance, this specific study states that over 7,000 firefighters found 65% of the respondents struggle with memories of troubling calls, 59% have experienced family or relationship issues as a result of their career. Over 27% of these firefighters were experiencing substance abuse problems, while 19% of them have considered suicide.
Firefighters need to be encouraged to seek out treatment during the first sign of these issues. If mental health disorders remain untreated, they can worsen over time. Interventions need to be done early on, so symptoms can be reduced. Taking fast action is especially when dealing with a complicated disorder like PTSD since untreated PTSD can lead to severe long-term problems.
For this article, we are going to talk about why mental health is important for firefighters?
Understanding the First Responder Mindset
A clinical psychologist by the name of Dr. Robin Grant-Hall worked closely with police officers after the Sandy Hook shootings and believes that firefighters and other emergency responders have some differences in their brains that allow them to respond to emergencies and be more resilient. That brain characteristic also allows a person to remain calm and level-headed during an emergency enhances resilience, allowing first responders to repeatedly respond to situations that would lead to severe trauma in others.
Although, even with this resilience, it is still possible for the human brain to become overwhelmed by repeated exposure to stress and trauma. Even the most well-adjusted firefighter will eventually fall prey to a mental health problem due to their job.
Understanding how the brain operates is a prime factor for changing the way fire services treat their workers. In simple terms, the fact that no one is entirely immune to the mental and emotional impact of frequently handling emergencies and their fallout should serve as a reason for providing better support and education services.
Attempting to change the way things are in a firehouse will be a daunting task that takes some time. Fire stations need to establish a supportive and understanding environment, where everyone is aware of the signs of a problem both within themselves and each other. However, doing so should lead to a road that removes the stigma of mental health problems and lower the number of firefighters lost to substance abuse, suicide, and other mental health issues.
Making these changes is still an ongoing process and requires changing the long-term belief that seeking mental health is for weaklings. However, times are changing, and the trend toward healthier firefighters will eventually need to gain momentum to ensure they remain healthy in body and mind.
Mental Health Stigma
When it comes to treating firefighters, mental health providers will have a challenging time trying to get them to speak about their problems. Seeking help for mental health has been a long-standing stigma among the populace. That stigma lingers in firefighters as well, with most of them not trusting the mental health provider to understand the issues they are dealing with.
The therapist that works with your firefighters must be capable of understanding the firefighter culture. Doing so will allow them to reach out to these individuals and make them more comfortable about the topics that will come up during a session.
You need to establish emotional connectivity and normalize the experience of mental healthcare in the fire station. Even the firefighters who decide to reach out for help will feel ashamed of themselves and have a look of guilt upon their faces. They feel as if they deserve to be punished for the things they are experiencing. The stigma of their experiences has impacted their very core into something very unpleasant.
That is why a therapist needs to become that connection with these firefighters and attempt at getting them to talk about their issues before it worsens into something else.
Mental disorders
The stress they undergo while on the job does not go away when these firefighters head home to rest up. Plenty of them are dealing with mental health issues as a result of the work they love. However, not everyone struggling feels that they can reach out for help. Moreover, other circumstances that harm firefighters are known to raise the chances of mental health problems and substance abuse, such as physical stress, working long hours, and loss of good night’s sleep.
Firefighters can experience a number of mental health issues, but many of them tend to struggle with one or more of the following disorders:
PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder has a variety of ways to manifest in a firefighter, and it looks different for each afflicted individual. Being exposed to significant amounts of trauma is known to cause varying types of PTSD. There are three types of PTSD noted by The National Institute of Mental Health.
Avoidance: The person feels guilt and depression (or has no feelings of attachment at all), trouble remembering traumatic events, lack of interest in former hobbies, and avoiding locations that trigger memories of trauma are all signs of avoidance.
Hyperarousal: Usually, the person is on edge, has insomnia, intense anger response, or being easily startled are all signs of hyperarousal.
Reexperiencing: The person feels overwhelming fears, unexpected flashbacks to traumatic events that include the same rapid breathing and sweat originally experienced, nightmares, and other intrusive symptoms are signs of this type of PTSD.
Anxiety
Anxiety symptoms that last for more than six months or more can qualify for a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or phobia. The particular symptoms shall vary depending on the disorder, but plenty of them include intense fears of certain areas or things, intrusive obsessive thoughts, disrupted sleeping and eating patterns, substance abuse, and so forth.
Depression
If someone is feeling down or sad, that is not generally a great cause for concern. However, if they are feeling down about a specific event or issue in their life that is ongoing, it could cause feelings of hopelessness, loss, suicidal thoughts, insomnia, and guilt, to well up, then it could be a case of depression.
There are three ways depression can be diagnosed as mild, moderate, or severe. It can also be a symptom of another mental health disorder, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Depression can worsen over time or increase due to substance abuse and addiction.
Substance Abuse
Being addicted to alcohol or drugs is defined by compulsive use of the drug of choice despite knowing of the negative consequences that can result from taking them. It also a chronic disease that actually has physical and discernable changes to the brain. Hence, it affects the individual’s personality, mental and physical health. Individuals that are diagnosed with addiction will not be capable of stopping drinking or using substances on their own, and they require professional detoxing and addiction treatment.
Co-occurring disorders
When someone is living with both alcohol and drug dependence disorder and a diagnosed mental health condition, they are diagnosed with co-occurring disorders. The two problems often severely impact one another, making it challenging to near impossible for treating one disorder without comprehensively treating the other.
For example, people who are experiencing anxiety and use drugs or alcohol to calm down their fears may not benefit from quitting these substances. That is especially true if they are not giving a coping mechanism that helps them handle their anxiety issues. If they do not have something that helps them deal with those issues, the urge to drink or get high will increase over time.
What can be done about this?
One of the significant problems facing fire departments in terms of mental health is that many firefighters lack awareness and understanding of mental health issues. Furthermore, most firefighters believe that they are expected to “tough it out” and not reach out for any assistance when involving their mental health. They ignore these issues for fear that reaching out for help indicates weakness and could place their job at risk.
A good percentage of them even believe that they are not vulnerable to mental health. The reason behind this belief is due to them having training and having already dealt with so many challenging situations.
Due to this way of thinking, plenty of mental health organizations are working closely with the fire department to create mental health education resources. These programs are supposed to help remove stigmas revolving around mental health while also giving firefighters the resources they need to identify problems in themselves and their colleagues and respond to them appropriately.
Organizations like the Code Green Campaign are working tirelessly to raise awareness of mental health issues. They are providing mental health educational materials, courses, and resources that will help firefighters acquire the skills and tools needed to take care of themselves and their colleagues.
Educational goals such as these are also making their way into firefighter education and training, providing upcoming firefighters with the necessary skills they need to preserve their mental health from the moment they start their jobs.
How to reduce stigma?
Leaders need to develop many mental health support resources. Mental health training, peer support training, and other programs could assist their firefighters with their mental health issues. They need to let everyone in their department be aware that mental health is a problem that needs to be taken seriously and should not be looked down upon.
There are plenty of ways for your leaders to reduce mental health stigma in their department.
All of these actions are capable of assisting firefighters with the ongoing stigma surrounding mental health. Whenever a firefighter is out on an emergency call, time is a precious commodity when they are attempting to save a life. That same sense of urgency is required when it comes to mental healthcare in the fire service. Reducing the stigma associated with mental health can ensure your firefighters are mentally sound and are capable of receiving help whenever they require it.
Fortunately, there has been an upsurge in preventing and education efforts from various support organizations for active firefighters. Some organizations like the National Fire Protection Association are helping increase awareness of how common mental health issues are among firefighters and first responders.
Conclusion
The reality of the matter is that most people do struggle with some mental health problem. However, firefighters are known for having high levels of mental health issues and suicidal thoughts. At the moment, there is not much that is possible to change the unknown traumatic situation these firefighters end up in. However, there are ways that fire departments can ensure these firefighters receive the support they need for their mental health.
Providing them with the resources, tools, treatment, and support is the best way for these firefighters to remain mentally healthy and fit. It’s up to the leaders to ensure they provide their firefighters with the assistance they need to combat these issues.