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Pioneering police study shows benefits of writing down feelings

March 07, 2005

malouff.jpgPolice officers who write about their feelings in a daily “emotions diary” significantly reduce their levels of job-related stress, a University of New England study has shown.

The findings come as a number of high-profile court cases have highlighted the extreme psychological pressures police face in the line of duty.

Police officers who spent 15 minutes a day writing about the emotions they experienced during their shift reduced feelings of stress, depression and anxiety by an average of 28 per cent over a four-day period.

A total of 50 police officers took part in the experiment, the first of its kind. It was carried out by a serving police officer, Senior Constable Matt Ireland, as part of his Honours degree in Psychology at UNE.

Constable Ireland said he conducted the study because he wanted to help his fellow officers find positive ways of dealing with the stress that came with the job.

“There’s not a great deal of support out there for police suffering from stress and I saw this as a way of helping my colleagues to help themselves,” Constable Ireland said. “It’s a stressful job. There’s no nice way of saying that we often deal with the absolute worst elements of society.”

Police found many different ways of dealing with stress, not all of them positive, Constable Ireland said. “The main way police tend to deal with it [the stress of the job] is by not dealing with it at all. It’s a macho thing.” Other coping methods included drinking and developing a sick sense of humour, he said.

Emotional writing had many advantages as a psychological treatment for police officers, Constable Ireland said.

“It works, it would be very cheap to administer and it’s something you can do in your own time. It doesn’t take long to get an effect.” He said another advantage was that it would not attract the stigma some police associated with seeking professional psychiatric help.

“Most police don’t want to go to psychotherapy. This offers them a middle ground, and hopefully might encourage a few more people to seek help when they need it.”

Dr John Malouf, who supervised Constable Ireland’s studies, said what made his findings so valuable was that police in general were not inclined to seek counselling, so keeping an emotional diary offered them a highly effective therapy without having to see a counsellor. “This is a very hot coping method among researchers at the moment and it has real potential for application among police,” Dr Malouf said.

Upon completion of the study Constable Ireland presented his findings to the Psychology Section of the NSW Police. Chief Psychologist Inspector Jennifer Lette said the results of Matthew’s research were “interesting” and that diary writing was one of a range of techniques now recommended to help police recover from psychological trauma.

Said Constable Ireland: “I know how hard this job can be first hand. I’m not some university kid who has never had to wrestle with a drunk in a pub or attend a fatal accident or see a child die. I’ve done those things and if this technique can help others the way it has helped me then I’ll be satisfied.”

Media Contacts: Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771 or Senior Constable Matthew Ireland on (02) 6965 1404. For a photo to accompany this story contact Leon Braun on (02) 6773 3771.

Posted by Leon Braun at March 7, 2005 10:19 AM