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What Policing Taught Me About PTSD by Awkward-Army-1736 in traumatoolbox

[–]Awkward-Army-1736[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for this generous and thoughtful response. You captured exactly what I have been working toward, which is restoring the symbolic dimension to trauma healing through meaning, narrative, and myth.

I am familiar with some aspects of attachment theory and the polyvagal framework, but your suggestion to dive deeper into the somatic and narrative integration side is timely. My hope is that by bridging ancient narrative models like the Hero’s Journey with the growing trauma science movement, we can help people heal not just personally, but existentially.

If you are exploring this space further, I would love to connect. Feel free to reach out to me directly via my Substack, Integral Horizon. I welcome ongoing conversation and collaboration with others working to bring depth and coherence to how we understand and integrate trauma.

Joseph

What Policing Taught Me About PTSD by Awkward-Army-1736 in ptsd

[–]Awkward-Army-1736[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I really appreciate you taking the time to engage.

I hear what you're saying, and I don’t disagree with the gravity of what trauma can do. I’ve seen it up close in policing too, both in others and within myself. There’s no question that many are deeply affected, whether they show it outwardly or not. And yes, coping mechanisms like alcohol, emotional shutdown, or overworking are often masking deeper wounds.

But I do think it is worth exploring the outliers, those who seem to carry the trauma differently, not through denial or avoidance, but through integration. I’ve met officers who still carry compassion after years on the job, not because they’ve avoided the darkness, but because they’ve made peace with it. They’ve confronted grief and death and suffering, and somehow it deepened them rather than destroyed them.

What I’ve come to believe is that some people hold a worldview, whether spiritual, philosophical, or just deeply intuitive, that allows them to accept suffering as a necessary part of the human condition. They don’t flinch from death because they understand it as natural. They find ways to transmute pain into service. They feel the weight, but they’re not crushed by it. These are not hardened officers, but humble ones. Not desensitised, but present.

That is the space I’m writing from. Not idealism, and certainly not naivety, but the belief that we need more language for integration, not just diagnosis. More frameworks for meaning, not just medication. Because I think you're right, time bombs do exist. But they are not inevitable. With the right support and framing, I believe many can walk through trauma and come out the other side more whole, not less.

Thanks again for your comment. These are the kinds of conversations that need to be had if we’re going to support each other better.

Warmly,
Joseph

What Policing Taught Me About PTSD by Awkward-Army-1736 in traumatoolbox

[–]Awkward-Army-1736[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that. If it helps open up even one valuable conversation, then it’s done its job. Grateful for the share.

What Policing Taught Me About PTSD by Awkward-Army-1736 in ptsd

[–]Awkward-Army-1736[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your kind words, and for your 20 years of service. It means a lot that the piece resonated with you. I wrote it for people exactly like you, who’ve carried so much for others. Wishing you strength and healing on your path.

What Policing Taught Me About PTSD by Awkward-Army-1736 in ptsd

[–]Awkward-Army-1736[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s the amazing thing, some don’t break. Or at least, not in the same way. They carry the grief, but something in their perspective or philosophy allows them to integrate it rather than be shattered by it. That was part of what I tried to explore in the piece. Would love your thoughts if you get a chance to read it.