The Impact of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on the Psychological Distress, Positivity, and Well-Being of Australian Police Officers

Objective: Police officers experience many traumatic events over the course of their career, often resulting in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and associated psychological distress. Studies have investigated the efficacy of interventions aimed at reducing symptoms of PTSD experienced by police officers, but lacking are studies investigating the impact of PTSD on positivity, a construct we define as a latent variable estimated using self-report measures of optimism, gratitude, self-compassion, and mindfulness. The present study carried out a path analysis of a model testing the hypothesis that PTSD would be associated with increased psychological distress and decreased positivity, both of which influence well-being. The model also evaluated associations between constructs that could be modified through interventions to increase well-being-associations between posttraumatic growth, social support, physical activity and psychological distress, positivity, and well-being. Method: Police officers (n = 506) completed an online survey that included self-report measures of the constructs included in the model being tested. Results: The model tested produced fit indices of root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .089; comparative fit index (CFI) = .960; Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = .93; standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = .041 and R-2 = .79. Results found that neither PTSD or psychological distress had a direct effect on well-being. Psychological distress indirectly influenced well-being by lowering levels of positivity, while positivity was associated with higher scores on the measure of well-being. Conclusions: The implication of the results is that interventions aimed at enhancing positivity could be expected to improve well-being in police officers and offering traditional therapies together with positivity enhancing therapies may have additional benefits over either alone. Clinical Impact Statement Police officers confronted with traumatic incidents experience psychological distress. Traditional psychological therapies aim to help people manage this psychological distress. We found higher levels of optimism, self-compassion, gratitude, and mindfulness were related to well-being in a group of police officers reporting posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The implication is that newly developed therapeutic techniques developed within the field of positive psychology may have the potential to enhance on overall sense of well-being over and above traditional therapies that aim to reduce the psychological distress associated with PTSD.