Traumatic Events, Psychopathology, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the General Community and First Responders: Presence of Symptoms and Associated Factors

Most individuals experience at least one traumatic event during their lives, which can lead to the development of psychopathological symptoms and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. First responders (e.g., police officers, firefighters, emergency medical professionals) are exposed to traumatic events daily, making them more vulnerable to developing these symptoms. Using an online questionnaire, we aimed to compare self-reported exposure to traumatic events and the presence of psycho-pathological and PTSD symptoms between a sample from the general community (n=137) and first responders (n=672) residing in Portugal. We also aimed to identify factors associated with the de-velopment of PTSD symptoms. Results showed that, although first responders reported higher exposure to traumatic events, there were no significant differences in PTSD symptoms between first responders and the general community; However, general psychopathological symptoms (anxiety and depression) were higher in the general community than for first responders. Symptoms of anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, hostility, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, and personally experienced traumatic events emerged as predictors of PTSD symptoms, while demographic variables showed no significant predictive value. We discussed the potential influence of factors like terror management theory, training and education, selection, the 'hero lifestyle,' and the 'police culture' on the results and explored directions for future research.