Overcoming Stress in Law Enforcement Environment
When speaking about the stress related issues and the ways of their overcoming in the law enforcement bodies, particular complexities may appear. In this way, it is vital to determine them in order to reduce and control stress. Therefore, such aspects as irrational beliefs and negative potential outcomes of the early warning systems can hold the officers back from managing stress.
The first point that vividly affects the process of managing and controlling stress among the law enforcement personnel is the appearance of the irrational beliefs. Lesler (2000) indicates that the beliefs are the ways to increase our ability to survive, “they are biologically designed to be strongly resistant to change”. In this context, all types of dysfunctional values are to be replaced with the right beliefs. Stevens (2007) provides a list of such harmful stereotypes, for example, one of those is the existence of standard manners of thinking that are ineffective in the long run (p. 311). Therefore, one should understand the necessity of the traditional beliefs reassessment since they can negatively influence the stress managing process.
Secondly, the early warning system as a way to control stress in the law enforcement bodies can potentially badly impact on the control reduction. It is worth agreeing with Stevens (2007) who states that such a system is sometimes criticized since it creates the situation when stressed officer signals “ready to pounce upon an unsuspecting victim might not be the entire answer associated with real-life experiences” (p. 308). Therefore, it is crucial to consider all the indicators that are present in the officer’s conduct in order to avoid such situations.
Summing it all up, stress managing is a consistent process that may face a lot of the complexities on the way to success. Therefore, all of the potential dangers, such as irrational views and negative outcomes of the early warning systems, are to be determined and overcome.
References
Lesler, G.W. (2000). Why bad beliefs don’t die. Skeptical Inquirer, 24(6). Retrieved from http://www.csicop.org/si/show/why_bad_beliefs_dont_die
Stevens, D.J. (2007). Police officer stress: Sources and solutions. Bookshelf Online. Retrieved from …
