Posts Tagged ‘police psychology’

Police Psychology | Control Freaks!

 

In police psychology, we know how to pick them out. “It’s my way or the highway!” they cleverly say, as if those words were ever original thoughts. Or, “If you want something done police psychology, control freak, police stressright, you have to do it yourself,” more originality.  Maybe they just offer “constructive criticism” or offer to help you change to make yourself happier, by mentioning something over and over again. “You shouldn’t have dessert my dear, you look like you’ve put on a little weight,” they tell you so innocently. “Next time we’ll do it your way, this time let’s do it right,” all mantras of their type. Then there’s the “worst case scenario,” a fear mongers way of controlling your every word. Yep, you can hear them by their language, see them by their actions, and sense them by their demeanor. They are the CONTROL FREAKS!!

We have let them in our neighborhoods as they riddle our masses with their controlling ideas. We have let them in our organizations as they wreak havoc on the boardroom and make a fun group into a high school student government arguing about Robert’s Rules of Order. And, many of us, have let them in our home as they work to criticize our every attempt at reaching our own conclusions by controlling our brains. The “control freak” knows no boundaries on letting loose emotions so that we want to just shut them up anyway we can. They make us desperate for air as they waterboard our sensibilities, our preference for logic and reason.  We either step in line with their desires or suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism, threats and become bumbling idiots in their micromanaged world. Fear the control freak, but understand you must treat them as an active shooter in your place of work. Let me explain that one…. (more…)

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Police Psychology | The Time Management Matrix as a Mental Health Concept

 

Anyone involved in police psychology knows how important it is to understand proper time management. However, the technique I use can be applied to anyone in any field.

Basically I had come up with this technique years ago after reading Steven Covey 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, although it may have originated in the business literature way before Covey.  He uses the Time Management MatrixPolice psychology: time management matrix only as an idea of how to manage time.  What a narrow-minded idea!  I use it as a mental health concept.  Quite frankly, it is a tremendous way to get people to focus on what is going on in their life and how they may be doing some things wrong with prioritizing the activities of their lives.  I find it useful for all my patients, but the superior officers tune into this so much that sometimes it is many sessions before I can get them to stop talking about it.  I know it is on the bulletin board in many offices in our department.  So print out the time management matrix from below and follow along. (more…)

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Police Psychology | The Mental Game in Law Enforcement

“90 percent of the game is half mental” (attributed to Yogi Berra)

by Doug Gentz, Ph.D. – Psychological Services

After you’ve acquired the knowledge and skills required for any performance, further improvement depends on your ability to manage your nervous system in a way that lets you pay attention to the right thing at the right time in the right way.

Performance is measurable – scores at the range, elapsed time on an LEDT course, position on a promotional exam (or scores on subtests within a promotional exam). SNS activation levels are also measurable – heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, etc. Because attentional effectiveness is not measurable it tends to be the “missing link” between activation levels and quality of performance.

performance 1 Police pscyhology (more…)

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Police Psychology | I Can’t Stop Now!

 

Police psychology has to deal with numbers of issues, but one that we often misdiagnose follows.

“Hey! HEY !!! What the hell are you doing?”

“I’M CLEANING OUT YOUR DRIVEWAY. What’s it look like?”

“Tim, there is a 50-70 mile an hour wind. The snow is still coming down, like hard you know. It is a blizzard, no it is a snow hurricane. It’s not safe.”police psychology, snow scene We duck as the wind carries a five foot wide unidentifiable piece of hard black plastic over our heads.

“Don’t worry. The snow blower is heavy so I won’t take off and be flying around.”

“What?! Get inside Tim. I’ll handle this tomorrow when the winds are done.”

“Nah, I got to get our driveways done before the playoff games at 3. You don’t need to stay.”

Of course I am going to stay and shovel. I can’t let the guy do my driveway all by himself, but I HATED IT! Blizzards are not fun with the wind-blown snow is acting like tiny shards of ice attacking your face. And of course the next day it is drifted as if we never touched it. Lord, transport me to a condo on the beach please!

Ever wonder what motivates some people to do this kind of thing, to persist beyond what is necessary, to not see the whole picture and the possibly cause damage by their actions? (more…)

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Police Psychology | A Toe for Mickey

 

Mike went down to the floor a couple of times. Doubled over, holding his stomach, wrenching, trying to catch a breath between the strokes of theanxiety, Police Psychologysword that was ripping out his insides. Mike had a serious anxiety disorder compounded with a quadruple vial of hubris. He didn’t listen when I told him not to go back to work yet. “Life takes awhile to heal; medicine takes awhile to fully work,” I said. He didn’t listen when I said “your mother had this and you brother had this, it might be in your family.” Rather he listened to a boss who said “get back on the horse, psychologists don’t know about being on the job.” He got his medicine and had a flight to health, a flight that made a quick stop in the “relapse zone.”

In police psychology, we understand that some accidents and injuries are to be expected. People get injured all the time. Whether it’s stubbing your toe against a stair, twisting your ankle while stepping off the sidewalk, or accidentally walking into clear glass doors (just me?), the occurrence of accidents is largely inevitable. This same phenomenon can extend to larger (more…)

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