Gender and Age Differences in Trauma and PTSD Among Dutch Treatment-Seeking Police Officers

Christianne A. I. van der Meer; Anne Bakker; Annika S. Smit; Susanne van Buschbach; Melissa den Dekker; Gré J. Westerveld; Renée C. Hutter; Berthold P. R. Gersons; Miranda Olff

doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000562

Gender and Age Differences in Trauma and PTSD Among Dutch Treatment-Seeking Police Officers

Christianne A. I. van der Meer, Anne Bakker, Annika S. Smit, Susanne van Buschbach, Melissa den Dekker, Gré J. Westerveld, Renée C. Hutter, Berthold P. R. Gersons, Miranda Olff

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Little is known about how age and gender are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and traumatic experiences in treatment-seeking police offers. In this study, we examined 967 diagnostic files of police officers seeking treatment for PTSD. Six hundred twelve (63%) of the referred police officers were diagnosed with PTSD (n = 560) or partial PTSD (n = 52). Police officers reported on average 19.5 different types of traumatic events (range 1-43). Those who experienced a greater variety of traumatic events suffered from more PTSD symptoms. Also, women reported more often direct life-threatening or private events as their index trauma than men and suffered from more PTSD symptoms than their male colleagues. Results indicate that police officers experience a considerable number of different traumatic events, which is significantly associated with PTSD symptoms. The results highlight the importance of early detection of PTSD symptoms in the police force

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	87-92
Journal	Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Volume	205
Issue number	2
Early online date	2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000562
Publication status	Published - 2017

Access to Document

https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000562

Cite this

@article{7b7c893b691247868b113bcee8ec29cf,

title = "Gender and Age Differences in Trauma and PTSD Among Dutch Treatment-Seeking Police Officers",

abstract = "Little is known about how age and gender are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and traumatic experiences in treatment-seeking police offers. In this study, we examined 967 diagnostic files of police officers seeking treatment for PTSD. Six hundred twelve (63%) of the referred police officers were diagnosed with PTSD (n = 560) or partial PTSD (n = 52). Police officers reported on average 19.5 different types of traumatic events (range 1-43). Those who experienced a greater variety of traumatic events suffered from more PTSD symptoms. Also, women reported more often direct life-threatening or private events as their index trauma than men and suffered from more PTSD symptoms than their male colleagues. Results indicate that police officers experience a considerable number of different traumatic events, which is significantly associated with PTSD symptoms. The results highlight the importance of early detection of PTSD symptoms in the police force",

author = "{van der Meer}, {Christianne A. I.} and Anne Bakker and Smit, {Annika S.} and {van Buschbach}, Susanne and {den Dekker}, Melissa and Westerveld, {Gr{\'e} J.} and Hutter, {Ren{\'e}e C.} and Gersons, {Berthold P. R.} and Miranda Olff",

year = "2017",

doi = "https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000562",

language = "English",

volume = "205",

pages = "87--92",

journal = "Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease",

issn = "0022-3018",

publisher = "Lippincott Williams and Wilkins",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gender and Age Differences in Trauma and PTSD Among Dutch Treatment-Seeking Police Officers

AU - van der Meer, Christianne A. I.

AU - Bakker, Anne

AU - Smit, Annika S.

AU - van Buschbach, Susanne

AU - den Dekker, Melissa

AU - Westerveld, Gré J.

AU - Hutter, Renée C.

AU - Gersons, Berthold P. R.

AU - Olff, Miranda

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Little is known about how age and gender are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and traumatic experiences in treatment-seeking police offers. In this study, we examined 967 diagnostic files of police officers seeking treatment for PTSD. Six hundred twelve (63%) of the referred police officers were diagnosed with PTSD (n = 560) or partial PTSD (n = 52). Police officers reported on average 19.5 different types of traumatic events (range 1-43). Those who experienced a greater variety of traumatic events suffered from more PTSD symptoms. Also, women reported more often direct life-threatening or private events as their index trauma than men and suffered from more PTSD symptoms than their male colleagues. Results indicate that police officers experience a considerable number of different traumatic events, which is significantly associated with PTSD symptoms. The results highlight the importance of early detection of PTSD symptoms in the police force

AB - Little is known about how age and gender are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and traumatic experiences in treatment-seeking police offers. In this study, we examined 967 diagnostic files of police officers seeking treatment for PTSD. Six hundred twelve (63%) of the referred police officers were diagnosed with PTSD (n = 560) or partial PTSD (n = 52). Police officers reported on average 19.5 different types of traumatic events (range 1-43). Those who experienced a greater variety of traumatic events suffered from more PTSD symptoms. Also, women reported more often direct life-threatening or private events as their index trauma than men and suffered from more PTSD symptoms than their male colleagues. Results indicate that police officers experience a considerable number of different traumatic events, which is significantly associated with PTSD symptoms. The results highlight the importance of early detection of PTSD symptoms in the police force

U2 - https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000562

DO - https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000562

M3 - Article

C2 - 27434192

SN - 0022-3018

VL - 205

SP - 87

EP - 92

JO - Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

JF - Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

IS - 2

ER -