In young children, trauma-specific reenactment may occur. Glossary Helplessness , is common in police work. Because we have to wait until something happens and arrive at the scene afterwards, we may often feel as if we could have, or should have, done more to prevent the death and destruction we often witness. Irrespective of one's sobriety.
Bad dreams can be problematic for officer's as it can feel as though one has lost all control.
Physiological reactivity can be things like pulse racing, heart pounding, or head ache, or other, more distressing symptoms, e.g., you think you're having a heart attack. Many officer's use alcohol to avoid having these distressing thoughts or feelings. As his anxiety about working in the area increased so did the amount of avoidence he used to deal with the problem. Eventually, he became incapacitated to a point that he couldn't even get close to his patrol car. Another officer with a similar problem, would be violently ill when he even drove by the police department.