A good resource for an under-recognised problem

For a time, Post-traumatic stress disorder was big news in the recovery of Vietnam veterans; it is becoming news again in the situations involving Iraq and Afghanistan conflict veterans. What has never been common in the news, but has been an ongoing situation, is the kind of post-traumatic stress that lingers with people who are in a sense on the front lines every day - policemen, firefighters, emergency responders, medical workers and others in helping professions. This kind of stress can even be present for victims of crime.

This book is a great resource for these people. It involves personal stories, recounted sometimes by those suffering from PTSD, and sometimes by those around the suffering people in relationships of family or profession. Different elements of the syndrome are presented here - flashbacks and nightmares (both of real and anticipated events), drug-taking (everything from steroids to gain strength, ostensibly to fight better and be more secure, to opiate/narcotic and other types of drugs to mask the pain and insecurity), broken relationships and more.

One aspect of the job of many civilian (i.e., non-military) workers is that they have had military training, and may be carrying PTSD baggage with them that somehow becomes reactivated. In a very moving story, the account of one Vietnam-veteran-turned-policeman is recounted with the difficulties that resurfaced over a victim similar to one of his own victims in Vietnam. While military veterans often make good police officers, they can also be walking powder-kegs of a sort.

About half this book recounts stories and tales from different angles of PTSD. The other half is one of useful resources - there are extensive notes, bibliographies, support services organised alphabetically, indexes (both subject and support services) and an epilogue. Author Allen R. Kates is a journalist with extensive experience covering police matters, and is particularly interested in the issues of trauma and stress. Assisting him in this book (providing a foreword as well as other information) is LAPD detective William Martin, whose retirement work includes serving as a counselor.

This is an important book for anyone who is in the emergency responder or law enforcement fields. It is also worthwhile for those who wish to have a greater insight into the kinds of situations people in these professions endure.

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Stunning book

CopShock is a stunning book. Although it is focused on police officers, it helps anybody suffering from PTSD symptoms to cope--crime victims, victims of disasters, cancer, loss of a loved one, and all other emergency people like firefighters, emergency room nurses, doctors, and so on.
The book is filled with excellent firsthand accounts, is based on hundreds of interviews of cops with PTSD, and is easy to read. The second chapter in particular clearly lays out the symptoms of PTSD as does the Appendix. The last chapter tells you what do do about trauma and PTSD, how to cope, manage the symptoms or to prevent PTSD. And the 6 years of research is amazing. This author did his homework. Many police officers complain that they have few or no resources to help them with their PTSD symptoms, making the hundreds of resources the author provides invaluable. This is the best book I've read on the subject.

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An introduction to PTSD

When I read other customeręs reviews on CopShock, I got the impression that the book is the ultimate in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and it holds all the answers. I was disappointed, however, because although there is some good basic info, the book serves better as an introduction to PTSD.

The author uses a lot of real-life stories to illustrate different aspects of PTSD and related syndromes. Almost the whole book is written this way, and this structure makes the book easy to read and not too scientific. On the other hand, is makes it difficult to use the book as an reference book. If you want to search for a list of symptoms of a given syndrome, for example, the information can be scattered along the pages of the whole book.

The book has about 450 pages, but the text really ends at about page 240. The remaining almost 200 pages is filled with listings of various support sources and so on. There is also extensive reference section, and bibliography of well over 200 publications related to the subject.

I rated the book as a whole, but the bookęs usefulness is directly dependent to whether you need the latter half of the book, of if you are just studying the subject. To someone who is suffering from PTSD (or whose member of family is), the book could be worth itęs weight in gold.

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