Taking a Proactive View of Mental Health, Specifically in Regards to Police and Military Forces

Taking a Proactive View of Mental Health, Specifically in Regards to Police and Military Forces

            The terrible incident that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri is tragic from any perspective.  Regardless of the culpability of the police officer and one’s opinion of how the incident unfolded, the loss of a person’s life is regrettable.  The incident in Ferguson has started many conversations about worthy topics of consideration throughout the United States.  A conversation that Americans should have more prominently is that conversation surrounding the mental health, and specifically about taking a proactive view towards mental health.  Taking a proactive view of mental health is especially important when considering the police forces and military of the United States.  The United States needs to generally take a more proactive view of mental health, especially in with our police forces and military. 

           
Today, for the most part, mental health is still stigmatized and approached reactively.  Those who seek counseling are viewed in a negative light and when mental health counseling is deemed acceptable, it is usually after a traumatic event has occurred to the person in question.  Police officers are giving counseling after they have fired their weapons.  After military members return from combat they are given counseling and psychiatric medication.  The nature of the jobs of police officers or those in the military leads one to have a reasonable expectations that they will encounter events well outside the realm encountered in traditional society creating mental health problems arising from these events.  Police officers experience the possibility of death every day, especially if they work in a large city, there is a reasonable expectation they could die.  The stress of the real possibility of death day in and day out must be oppressive, it certainly effects the way they view the world.  We need to provide counseling and mental health support to address this predictable stress and perhaps allow our police officers to deal with the stress better and best case scenario alleviate a degree of the stress.  We give support and counseling to our police officers once they fire their gun, but we should be giving support before they fire their gun as well.  General society in the United States calls our police officers along with firefighters and teachers our heroes, it is time society gave our heroes the support they need before a predictable negative experience happens to them.

            Particularly in regards to the tragic events in Ferguson, it is important to note that police officers are dealing with the worst people in our society on a daily basis.  They are dealing with murders, rapists, pedophiles, and other criminals every day.  Most people consider being mugged a traumatic experience that they will never forget, police officers deal with far worse traumatic experiences every day.  This adds to their stress level and colors the way they see the people of the communities they protect.  Which can very well lead to stereotyping.  A community’s police officers will interact every day with the worst elements of that community.  If a community is comprised mostly of Eastern Europeans, that community’s police officers will interact every day with the worst elements of that Eastern European community.  The majority of the police officers interactions with Eastern Europeans will be with the worst of that community, giving a strong negative association with Eastern Europeans.  This negative association can happen with any community, African American or Hispanic as well.  Communities throughout the United States need to provide counseling and metal health programs that allow police officers to realize and deal with the development of powerful bias.  Perhaps if police officers are more aware about the psychological effects of their surroundings and experiences, they can manage bias and bias behavior more effectively. 

            Given the difficult and dangerous nature of the police and military forces’ occupations, there is a reasonable expectations that they will encounter events well outside the realm encountered in traditional society creating mental health problems arising from these events.  Also, given the fact that police forces are interacting with the worst elements of communities across the United States, bias and stereotyping can easily result.  The United States as a whole needs to do a much better job of providing our police and military forces with the mental health support and counseling they need both before and after an event occurred.  If the United States can take a proactive approach to mental health in regards with our police and military forces, we can possibly mitigate the negative effects of their occupations and provide a better mental quality of life for our police and military heroes.