Shocking Stats
Here are some stats I found from
about.att.com/story/2020/fn_acf.html :
- First responders are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty.
- The life expectancy of first responders is almost 20 years less than the average citizen.
- Police officers ages 55-60 have a 56% chance of dying from a heart attack – 35x more than average.
- 20-25% of all first responders experience post-traumatic stress.
Root Causes
The work environment of first responders is far more stressful than what you encounter in most other professions. They deal with life and death issues, criminal activity, toxic and hazardous settings, and work schedules that don’t allow the body to recover. This line of work is very taxing on the nervous system.
What their senses deal with on a daily basis is obviously traumatic, but I want to point out what the senses don’t see.
When you read the works of Robert Scaer, Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Pia Mellody, Pat Ogden, Bernice Andrews, etc… you’ll notice the common theme of unresolved trauma being held in the body. The nervous system doesn’t just respond to external stimuli, it also reacts to internal stimuli like unprocessed trauma. So when you’re regularly in intense stressful situations, over time, all the unprocessed traumatic memories start to catch up. Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) becomes overwhelmed, and it is no longer in homeostasis.
So not only do first responders have to deal with a stressful physical environment, but they also have to deal with unprocessed memories of terror, despair, hostility, panic … etc.
Trauma Therapies
I find many trauma therapies are kinda “New Age-y” or are the pollyannish yoga approach. Going that route is actually not good for the soul (check out my article on Catholic Exchange regarding my critique of yoga and the occult). Though after several years of exploring various body-mind therapies, I found Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) to be most helpful — check out traumaprevention.com for more info. It teaches you the natural response of mammals when they need to reset themselves after a fight/flight/freeze situation.
Spiritual Considerations
After years of learning from chiropractic medicine and trauma therapies, I find that processing emotions does help the ANS return to homeostasis. I’ve seen many people recover from difficult situations, but I’ve also seen people who don’t get better despite all the medical interventions. Looking back at those who “plateaued” in their health (or ill health), no one ever considered another kind of invisible stimulus– the presence of evil. If you read the New Testament, you’ll notice in some of the miracle healings, the expulsion of the demonic had to be done.
You will find in your life, that when you are in traumatic situations, evil wants to pounce. Most people think demonic forces are the stuff of fairy tales, but when you analyze life long enough, you will see that evil is a real force to contend with. Check out this teaching from the late Derek Prince.
So for my brothers and sisters in Christ who are first responders, thank you for the work you do, and I hope you consider these insights. With God, I know you can be victorious over the invisible enemies.
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