# Police officer suicide:



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Recognizing the signs and helping our colleagues in distress*

*Q:* Recently, our department was rocked by the suicide of an officer. Although the guy never seemed to be a happy camper, we didn't know he was depressed enough to take his own life. Is there anything we can learn from this to prevent something like it happening in the future?

*A: *By asking this question, you just took the first step to constructively dealing with law enforcement's dirty little secret. Suicidal crises rarely occur in isolation, but are most commonly seen in officers with prior histories of depression, or in those who have recently faced an overwhelming crush of debilitating stressors, leading to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. A typical pattern consists of a slow, smoldering build-up of tension and demoralization, which reaches a "breaking point," and then rapidly nosedives into a suicidal crisis.

Importantly, suicidal crises tend to be short, which means that timely intervention can literally make a life-or-death difference. With appropriate treatment, about 70 percent of depressed, potentially suicidal persons improve considerably within a few weeks. This hardly means that depressed moods and suicidal thoughts won't ever occur again, but a history of successful psychological treatment provides a support resource that the individual can rely on if and when the next crisis begins to brew.

Full Story: http://www.policeone.com/health-fitness/articles/1245590/


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