Decompression Syndrom

[Sid]

Hello all. Great site, very educational. :)

I was speaking with someone the other day that mentioned 'Decompression Syndrom' in regardes to an officers retirement. It was explained to me that you get so used to the high and constant stress levels of your daily job that once that stress is gone after retirement your bodies and minds can't handle it, so it involves potential suicide, or die an eary death from natural causes.

To me this sounded a bit absurd, however after thinking about it for a bit. It could seem plausible. I do not know any scientific facts about this. I figured I would ask the men and women who deal do the job on a daily basis.

Is there any truth to this?

Thanks

[Frank Booth]

Deleted................

[Bing_Oh]

Yes, there's truth to this. I'ts very dependant on the officer and his/her mindset, however. Officers who retire and do not fill the "empty" place in their life where the job used to be tend to die within 5 years of retirement...usually either from suicide or heart attack.

I don't suppose that it's easy for a non-LEO to understand the concept (and, I've never heard it called "decompression syndrome," but it's a pretty good name).

Civilians probably think of this as just another job...just like you might go to an office, we go to the police station. In reality, it's very different. It tends to be more than just a job. There's a big change in mental outlook. There tends to be a certain isolation from non-LEO's. We get very used to the stresses and pressures of the job...so much so that we thrive on it. And, probably most importantly, the job becomes an integral part of an officer's personal identity. When we're introduced to someone who we don't know, there's almost always a comment within the first five minutes in regards to our profession. It's kinda like, "This is Bing_Oh...he's a police officer." That's something you don't get with other professions (I doubt that you hear, "This is bob...he's a trahsman" very much.). Take all of those things away, don't fill that empty space with anything but sitting around watching gameshows and soap operas in the afternoon, and we just die off.

[GotYour1040]

There is a Book on the subject if you are interested.
Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement: A Guide for Officers and Their Families. The person who wrote it came and gave an outstanding one day class on the subject to our department. It's a good read.

[Sid]

I guess its more of a reality than I initially anticipated. Thanks for the feedback guys.

[Sleuth]

I used to work for a guy, never married, lived just blocks from the office, no outside interests, didn't take vacations, didn't own a personal car, heck, he didn't even cash all his paychecks. He was forced to retire (age), but still came in every day, and wanted to talk about cases. He was finally told "you don't work here any more, no security clearence, we can't discuss this stuff with you".
He went home and shot himself.
His entire identity was as an officer.

Others become action junkies. Maybe that's why, after I retired, I joined the Volunteer Fire Department, so I can still get in on some action.

[RabbitMPD]

Am I the only one in here who has a somewhat boring job? I work 3rd shift for a suburb so I don't think I will have this problem when I retire. I've seen retired cops who hate being retired, but nothing to this extent.

As for me, when I finally retire I will probably die from skin cancer do to all the rays i'll be soaking up. :cool:

[Bing_Oh]

Am I the only one in here who has a somewhat boring job? I work 3rd shift for a suburb so I don't think I will have this problem when I retire. I've seen retired cops who hate being retired, but nothing to this extent.

As for me, when I finally retire I will probably die from skin cancer do to all the rays i'll be soaking up. :cool:
No, actually, I'm in a pretty boring community as well. I'm not sure what your employment background is, but I came from a much more active department and, while I don't miss the department itself, I miss the action.

So, riddle me this, Batman...can you actually say that, when the opportunity arises, you don't get a thrill out of the action of the job? I know I do...it's not as common as it once was for me, but there are still nights when I'm hip-deep in $h!t.