PTSD

Check out this link. http://ptsd.factsforhealth.org/have/ptsd.aspx

As dispatchers we listen to trauma and drama for hours on end, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. For any dispatcher I talk to, there is usually at least two different phone calls or radio events that pops into their mind, instantly, when asked about a scary call.

Usually when people think about PTSD it is in terms of a serviceman or servicewoman returning from battle. Or an officer involved in an OIS. Little is written about the cumulative effect of witnessing and/or listening to trauma and drama when people are truly at the worst moments of their lives and you can't do very much to help and too many times as dispatchers we don't know how it ended. An officer has that benefit at least.

I think I may be exploring this phenomenon more in this blog. After all, it is here for me to express my work-related thoughts. This blog is here for me to help de-stress. And I think it is a component that needs exploring.

So the next few entries will be for me. Well, actually all the writings have been for me. But as it seems people are actually reading this, many of you may find the next few entries disturbing or off-track or even think it is the wrong place for the exploration. My words to you, don't read them. Just move on. Take me off your reading list.

I need to do this. This is how I work through my dark moments. Many psychiatrists and counselor's recommend their patients to journal. As I can type much faster than I can write, blogging has become a great outlet for me. Maybe I can come to terms with some things without the need for a PhD or Counselor or meds.