• Military and Substance Abuse
• Trauma Addiction: Safety and Stabilization for the Addicted Survivor of Trauma
• Don't Make it Worse! Use of Alcohol or Drugs After Trauma
• Secret Diet Disasters of Trauma Survivors

• Trauma and the Post-Institutionalized Child - Adoption and Trauma Related issues

• Surviving the Crash: Stress Reactions of Motor Vehicle Accident Victims
• The Emotional Toll of Motor Vehicle Accidents on Truck Drivers

• Supporting Our Soldiers-PTSD Info For Chaplains
• Reintegration & Readjustment Program For Iraqi Veterans: for officers returning from the war in Iraq.
• Cop Talk: Beating the Holiday Blues
• The Echoes of Violence in The Police Family
• POLICE SUICIDE: Understanding Grief & Loss
• Confidentiality in Counseling: What Police Officers Need To Know
• Police Officers: Traumatic Spending: A Reaction to Critical Incident Stress
• Paramedics and Burnout: Coping and Prevention Suggestions

• On Being Invisible In The Mental Health System
• The Nature of the Child
• Traumatic Stress and Children
• Stress Responses in Sexual Trauma Victims and in Others Experiencing Overwhelming Events
• CHILDHOOD AND ADULT SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION: Living in the Aftermath of Transgression and Quest for Restoration of the Self

• Nurses and Compassion Fatigue
• Preventing Compassion Fatigue: Power Point Presentation
• Professional Quality of Life Manual (ProQOL)
• Understanding and Preventing Compassion Fatigue - A Handout - For Professionals
• Supporting Our Soldiers - PTSD Info For Chaplains
• The Art and Science of Caring for Others without Forgetting Self-Care
• Compassion Fatigue: An Introduction
• The MASTERS Process: Transforming Your Career and Life
• Compassion Fatigue: A Crucible Of Transformation
• When Helping Hurts
• Vicarious Trauma in Attorneys
• Bosnia's Death Highway: My Personal Story of Trauma Work, Compassion Fatigue and Hope.

• Domestic Violence and the Gay Community: A Right to Peace and Safety
• I Was Raped: A Survivor explores an accusation that has divided the Spelman and Morehouse family
• Treating People of Varied Cultures: Honoring the Individual in Context
• Surviving and Thriving: Understanding Asian Americans' Experiences of Relationship Trauma
• Latinas in Pursuit of Healing: Cultural Implications for Counseling Sexually Abused Latinas
• I Will Survive: The African-American Guide to Healing from Sexual Assault and Abuse (excerpt)
• Trauma in American Indian Communities
• Challenges and Obstacles in Treating Mentally Ill African American Patients

• Military Sexual Trauma
• Legal Tools for Survivors of Sexual Assault
• Art Exhibit: A Woman's Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor
• Acquaintance Rape: A Matter of Consent
• I Will Survive: The African-American Guide to Healing from Sexual Assault and Abuse (excerpt)
• Rape Trauma Syndrome: The Journey to Healing Belongs to Everyone
• Peaceful Heart: A Woman's Journey of Healing After Rape
• Dealing with Domestic Abuse: Lessons from Kathy
• The Ties That Bind Captive to Captor- Stockholm Syndrome
• Understanding the Victims of Spousal Abuse

• Will Trauma Grief Counseling Help?
• Exorcising Ghosts: The Counting Method and Traumatic Death Imagery
• Help for the Holidays: Ideas for the Bereaved
• Understanding Different Grieving Patterns in Your Family
• Sudden Loss - Impact of a grief-crisis intervention immediately after a sudden violent death on the survivor's ability to cope.
• Recovery From Unnatural Death
• Psychotherapy of Bereavement After Homicide: Be Offensive

• The Emotional Impact of Reporting War at Home
• A Primer on Covering Victims
• PTSD 101 for Journalists
• Three Acts of Trauma News
• Survivors and the Media

• Domestic Violence Against Men: Bryan's Story
• Suffering in Silence: The Problem of Male Sexual Abuse
• Wounded Boys/Heroic Men: A Man's Guide to Recovering from Child Abuse

• PTSD and Family Members: The Hidden Face of PTSD
• Partners with PTSD

• Understanding Complex Trauma, Complex Reactions, and Treatment Approaches
• Major Depressive Disorder: A Condition That Frequently Co-Occurs with PTSD
• Exposure To A Traumatic Event Does Not Automatically Put A Person On A Path To Develop PTSD: The Importance of Protective Factors To Promote Resiliency
• Applying the Brakes - Traumatic Memories
• Finding a Good Lawyer for Your Traumatized Client
• Posttraumatic Therapy
• The Counting Method for Ameliorating Traumatic Memories
• Stress Responses in Sexual Trauma Victims and in Others Experiencing Overwhelming Events Helpful Strategies for Self, Children, Supporters, and What Trauma Therapists Really Do
• The Counting Method as Exposure Therapy: Revisions and Case Examples
• Trauma & Recovery: an REBT Perspective
• Listening to the Lessons of Survivors. Sharing their Truths and their Lessons

• Life After Breast Cancer: Surviving & Thriving
• How to Improve Strength and Mobility without Really Exercising
• Exercise and Aging
• Fibromyalgia: What It Is And How To Manage It
• How Exercise Helps Symptoms Of PTSD
• Menopause Is A Natural Part Of A Woman's Lifecycle

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Workplace What Employers and Coworkers Need to Know

• Healing the Invisible Wound
• Trauma Survivors Share Tips for Therapists Dealing with Trauma
• Open Letter to Trauma Survivors
• How to Choose a Trauma Therapist: Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSD) and Dissociative Conditions
• Helping A Person Who Is Suicidal
• S.V.'s Story: My Survival From Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Survivors, How To Write Your Personal History
• Finding The Right Therapist For You
• Anniversary Reactions: A Survivor's Guide on How to Cope
• Healing from Shame Associated with Traumatic Events
• Ninth Grader Interviews Frank Ochberg on PTSD
• How to Cope with PTSD and the Holiday Season

• Cultivating Resiliency in Youth
• Cultivating Resiliency
• The Resilient Child

• Helping Traumatized Children at School
• Inner City Children of Trauma: Urban Violence Traumatic Stress Response Syndrome (U-VTS) and Therapists' Responses
• School Disaster: Planning and Initial Interventions
• Bound By A Trauma Called Columbine

• Posttraumatic Stress, Mental Health Professionals, and the Clergy: A Need for Collaboration, Training, and Research
• How to Provide Spiritually Sensitive Trauma Care
• "Trauma and Spirituality"

• Guilt Following Traumatic Events

• Utilizing First Person Story with Trauma Survivors in Bosnia and Sri Lanka: Metaphors create a symbolic congruence that is 'inclusive' and universal across cultures
• GFW Founder, Frank Ochberg spent a week in Sri Lanka Helping
• Hurricane Opens Trauma Wounds
• 9-11 ANNIVERSARY REACTIONS: An interview with Frank Ochberg, M.D.
• Victims of Disasters: Helping People Recover From Acute Distress to Healing and Integration
• Terrorism: September 11, 2001. "Trauma, Grief, and Recovery"

• Finding Hope after Head Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Military and Substance Abuse
• Military Sexual Trauma
• Suicide and the Military
• Military PTSD Family Resources
• Will Trauma Grief Counseling Help?
• Preventing Compassion Fatigue: What Veteran Spouse/Partner Caregivers Need to Know
• Keeping Your Relationship Healthy When Your Veteran Spouse/Partner Is Injured
• Issues and Answers on the Home Front
• Veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Conversation with Dr Frank Ochberg
• Post Traumatic Stress and the Military
• There's Nothing Wrong With Me!
  

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season descends upon us well before Thanksgiving wherein we are inundated with television commercials depicting happy families with smiling parents and gleeful children. Everyone is gathered around a festive holiday table and granddad is ready to carve the turkey. While the media would have us believe that this is the norm, it's not all that normal for everyone. That is especially true for those of us in law enforcement. After all, people don't call the police because they are feeling the "holiday spirit."

In addition to the usual pressures of rotating schedules, court time, leave restrictions, and normal financial crunches, officers must squeeze in extra time for holiday shopping at the malls, and stretching the budget to its limits without going overboard. Getting caught up in the "Madison Avenue" hype of "giving" can have dire consequences in January when those credit card bills are screaming to be paid.

While the reader might assert that everyone experiences these kinds of stressors around the holidays, my experiences with trauma and law enforcement has yielded a different theory. Traumatic exposure over the course of many years on the job is cumulative. Unlike most citizens who spend their holidays away from their jobs, police officers must work these important holidays. Unfortunately, traumatic events often take place on days that are meant to represent happiness and joy. Domestic assaults, child abuse, and deadly accidents caused by drunk drivers are all events that bring "first responders" to the scenes. Officers must deal with the tragedies they see and the victims that are left behind. While cruelty and "man's inhumanity to man" happens every day on the streets, there is an inherent expectation that the holidays are special. Reality has proven otherwise. So, for officers, Christmas might trigger reminders of a tragedy that took place on a Christmas when they were working. Since police officers are masters at the art of "emotional cover-up" and "numbing out," you won't hear officers talk about the painful past to their families because no one understands the "job" except for other officers. Instead, what you may see is an officer who is emotionally distant, impatient, irritable, and lacking in the "holiday spirit." This reaction then leads to "guilt" which the officer may try to make up for with expensive gifts, hoping to improve relationships that have been languishing. Moreover, officers take their roles as caretakers and protectors very seriously; and do not speak to loved ones about the horrors they see on the streets.

Family relationships, finances, and the physical demands around the holidays can lead to frustration and depression. To further complicate this already stressful time is the negative impact that loss through divorce, family estrangement, an unhappy childhood, or death can play during the holidays. Facing the holidays without a loved one is more difficult than most people can imagine. Feeling lonely and sad when everyone else seems to be celebrating can isolate a person even more. This can lead to "self-soothing" behaviors like drinking too much or spending too much; which can cause additional and more serious problems. Consider the following suggestions for getting through the holidays.

Healthy Tips for Beating the Holiday Blues

• If you have experienced the loss of a loved one, give yourself permission to grieve. It's normal. Don't expect yourself to put on a "happy face."
• Find someone you trust to talk to about your feelings. Talking about your feelings has a healing effect similar to that of taking a heavy load off your shoulders. It doesn't make you a weak person.
• Tell family and friends what you need. Don't keep it to yourself and expect them to "read your mind." That just leads to resentment. Use "I" messages to express how you feel.
• Engage in strenuous physical exercise. It's a proven stress reliever and it increases your body's immune system and metabolism. Don't wait until you feel motivated to exercise. Take action and do the opposite of what you're feeling.
• Be realistic about the holiday season. All the TV "hype" is not going to ward off feelings of loneliness; nor is it going to solve all past problems.
• Establish a spending limit and stick to it! Look for ways to show people that you care without spending lots of money that you don't have.
• Take time for yourself...even if it's just to relax.
• Set limits and priorities. Make a "To Do" list to arrange your priorities.
• Volunteer to work for an officer who has young children at home if you have no one to spend the holidays with. He or she will always remember that act of kindness.
• Don't use alcohol or food to sooth your feelings of loneliness or sadness. They're just temporary fixes.
• Remember that "policing" is a unique profession that is meant for only the most resilient of people. You have been chosen for law enforcement because you care about others. Celebrate your profession. Being exposed to trauma impacts you; but it doesn't mean that you are diminished because of it.
• Be grateful for your health and for the good people in your life.

In closing, the therapists of the MPEAP thank you for your service and wish you good health and happiness.

Dr. Anderson is the Clinical Director/Administrator of the Metropolitan Police Employee Assistance Program (MPEAP) in Washington, DC.

Dr. Anderson is on the Board of Gift From Within.

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Here are additional articles by Dr. Beverly Anderson.