It’s Not Always PTSD
PARTICIPATION =
SUCCESS
LOCAL 935
2020 MEETING SCHEDULE
General meetings are open to all members,
who are encouraged not only to attend but
also to get involved and agendize any discus-
sion topics or motions they wish to promote.
Contact our Local 935 secretary Jen Miescher
at [email protected] for details.
Meanwhile, executive board meetings are
closed to the wider membership but are re-
quired per IAFF rules for our union leadership
to conduct business in a formal manner.
A reminder: earlier this year our membership
voted in this schedule over the previous arrange-
ment, which held an open meeting each month, with
alternating dates described as “general” and “board”
without a great distinction in procedure. So no, you’re
not imagining—things used to be a little different!
GENERAL
November 12, 2019 @ 10am
January 14, 2020 @ 10am
March 10, 2020 @ 10am
May 12, 2020 @ 10am
July 14, 2020 @ 10am
September 8, 2020 @ 10am
E-BOARD:
February 11, 2020 @ 10am
April 14, 2020 @ 10am
June 9, 2020 @ 10am
October 13, 2020 @ 10am
As a reminder all meetings take
place at the Local 935 union hall:
7950 Cherry Ave. Suite 112
in the city of Fontana.
By Mynda Ohs, PhD.
For firefighters, the most serious reactions, the true red
alerts—the conditions that can lead to clinical depression,
breakdowns, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide—is PTSD.
However, there are less serious signs that can be addressed
early in their development such as burnout, secondary
trauma and compassion fatigue. Being able to get after
these early signs can decrease many negative symptoms,
thus improve quality of life.
Burnout happens when perceived demand overruns our
resources to respond. If we use the cup analogy to
demonstrate the level of stress experienced by firefighters,
with most living at a half-full level on a regular basis, the
demands of the job can push resources into overflowing.
The resources can no longer keep up with the demands.
The resulting burnout is a state of physical, mental
and emotional exhaustion that happens over time. The
symptoms can include from sleep disturbances, moodiness
and interpersonal conflicts, fatigue and a lack of “bounce-
back” ability, to feelings that one’s efforts are futile and
accomplishments meaningless. One reason it’s so important
to identify burnout is that if it’s untreated—if efforts are not
made to drain some of the stressors out of that cup—it will
move on to a more serious condition.
Of course most of the time firefighters are able to process
some of the stress and can deal with disturbing calls or
situations. This can then lead to a belief that things will
always resolve. That false belief, added to a “hey, just suck
it up” culture, can get firefighters into bad situations, with
cups overflowing. This is also where they seriously begin to
doubt themselves and their ability to cope with the job. I
have heard many say, “Why am I having a hard time dealing
with this now, when I have dealt with much worse? What’s
wrong with me?” As burnout persists, it gradually transitions
by adding more serious symptoms to the toxic stew:
social withdrawal and depersonalization, deep cynicism
and irritability, chronic low energy and exhaustion and a
troubling sense of being underappreciated. Then, secondary
or vicarious trauma comes in as the final ingredient that
brings on compassion fatigue.
Secondary/vicarious trauma is the result of witnessing
the suffering of others. It can strike anyone who has no
choice but to constantly observe what other people are
going through. Again, we all have our cups and we all have
stress. But because a firefighter starts every day with a cup
that is half-full or close to brimming over, it isn’t the same.
Secondary trauma results from the buildup of empathizing
with another’s suffering, then being haunted by the constant
visualization of that person’s experience. Every firefighter can
tell you about that call, the one they dread responding to, the
calls (and, trust me, there are more than just one) that are
stored in that slideshow in their brain. Firefighters who help
traumatized people don’t just go home and forget about them.
They can become fixated on them, reexperiencing the events
of the call, using their energies to numb themselves or avoid
anything that brings back the memories, wondering what they
could have done differently, if what they do day-in and day-out
makes any difference at all. When you are burdened with the
suffering of others, it’s easy to get tired of caring.
Compassion fatigue isn’t the result of one call or a traumatic
situation. It’s simply being tired of caring. Firefighters can
handle stress, even acute stress. They know bad things can
happen. Work brain allows them to take their share of horrible
sights and frightening situations in stride. In addition, there are
a lot of bad things they deal with which they firmly push out
of the forefront of their minds, that they ignore or try to forget.
In the early stages of burnout, first responders can be totally
unaware it’s even happening, due to their walling-off so much of
the bad stuff. That’s when the effects of secondary or vicarious
trauma stress set in.
When compassion fatigue grabs hold, you don’t want to care
anymore. Maybe you let yourself go. Everything seems like too
much trouble: sexual intimacy, going to the gym, eating properly,
having a purpose. You can become angry, hypervigilant and
forgetful. Self-doubt and anxiety interrupt or prevent sound
sleep. You might think you should do something about this,
but you feel overwhelmed, apathetic, eaten away by self-doubt.
Your life becomes a list of things you used to enjoy, used to
spend time doing. Now you can’t be bothered. Now you make
excuses not to go places with your significant other. You avoid
your family. You try to avoid any calls that might be critical and
anything at all that might remind you of the event that keeps
flashing before your eyes. You can’t turn off the thoughts. You
can worry that you’re weak, that you are no longer fit to serve.
You are neither. You’re just in the grip of compassion fatigue.
This is a red alert and will require some outside help. This can
be a peer supporter, chaplain, family or a culturally competent
clinician. Do you know how to access these types of resources
or if your department provides them? Stay tuned, the next issue
will discuss how to access services of all types.
All meetings begin at 10am
All members are encouraged to attend General Meeting
as E-Board meetings are now closed to General Members
6 FIREWIRE • FALL 2019
Dr. Mynda Ohs is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on firefighter mental health issues, and is a culturally-competent mental
health clinician with nearly 20 years experience in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. Dr.Ohs is the author of Fully Involved Life:
A Guide to Being in a Relationship with a Firefighter. She is a former first responder, wife and mother. Learn more about Dr. Ohs on her
website www.FullyInvolvedLife.com. This is her second contribution to FIREWIRE.
FALL 2019 • FIREWIRE 7