How Asking "What Happened?" Instead of "Why Me?" Changes Your Brain's Trauma Response

Behind every badge, there's a story.

A story of courage, sacrifice, and relentless pursuit of justice.

But there's also a story that often goes untold.

A story of the mental and emotional toll that policing takes on those who answer the call.

Welcome to Police Speak, the podcast that delves into the raw realities of police work and explores the path to resilience.

Each week, we'll unpack harrowing police encounters, dissect their psychological impact, and equip you with the tools to safeguard your mental well being.

So turn up the volume and prepare for our next journey.

Welcome back to Police Speak.

This is episode four in our series on the predictive six factor resilience model.

We've covered vision, your sense of purpose and composure, your ability to regulate emotions.

Today we will explore the third reasoning.

Reasoning is about how you think.

It's about your cognitive patterns, your problem solving skills, and most importantly, how you interpret and make sense of events.

Research shows that how you think about traumatic events can be just as important as the events themselves in determining whether you develop ptsd, depression, or other mental health problems.

The good news is that thinking patterns can be changed.

You can learn to think in ways that protect your mental health and build resilience.

That's what we're going to talk about today.

Let's start with some research that really drives home why reasoning matters.

A study on firefighters found that those who are likely to engage in negative appraisals, interpreting events in the worst possible light, are six times more likely to show symptoms of depression.

Another study on rescue workers found that those who use positive reappraisal strategies experience significantly lower distress.

Think about that for a moment.

The way you interpret an event can multiply your risk of depression by 6.

That's not a small effect.

That's huge.

Here's what's happening in your brain.

The events themselves activate your limbic system, your emotional center.

But how you think about those events determines how long your limbic system stays activated and how intensely it responds.

If you interpret a difficult event as catastrophic, as evidence that you're inadequate, as proof that the world is dangerous and unpredictable, your limbic system stays on high alert.

Your stress response stays activated.

Over time, this can lead to anxiety, depression, and ptsd.

But if you can interpret the same event in a more realistic, balanced way, acknowledging the difficulty while also recognizing your competence, the support available to you and your ability to cope, your limbic system can downregulate.

Your prefrontal cortex can help you process the experience and move forward.

This is why reasoning is so powerful.

It's about training your brain to interpret events in ways that support resilience rather than undermining it.

One of the most important concepts in the reasoning domain is the distinction between concrete and abstract processing.

This comes from solid research on trauma recovery, and it's something we emphasize heavily in the heart program.

Here's what the research shows.

After a traumatic event, people tend to process what happened in one of two ways.

Abstract processing involves asking why questions and making broad generalizations.

Why did this happen?

What does this say about me?

Why is the world so unfair?

What does this mean about my future?

These are abstract questions.

They're looking for meaning, for patterns, for big picture explanations.

And here's the they often don't have good answers.

They lead to rumination, going over and over the same thoughts without reaching any resolution.

And research shows that abstract processing after trauma is associated with higher rates of intrusive memories, flashbacks, and PTSD symptoms.

Concrete processing, on the other hand, focuses on specific factual details.

What exactly happened?

Who was involved?

Who?

What was the sequence of events?

Where was I and what did I do?

How did this situation unfold?

These are concrete questions.

They're about observable facts, not interpretations or meanings.

And research shows that concrete processing after trauma is associated with fewer intrusive thoughts, lower rates of ptsd, and better overall mental health outcomes.

Why is this?

Because concrete processing engages your prefrontal cortex in a helpful way.

You're organizing information, creating a coherent narrative of what happened.

You're using rational thought to process the experience.

Abstract processing, on the other hand, keeps you stuck in your limbic system.

You're trying to make sense of something that might not make sense, trying to find meaning in something that feels meaningless and that keeps your emotional arousal high.

Let me give you an example.

An officer, we'll call him Tom, was involved in a high speed pursuit that ended in a crash.

Tom was cleared of any wrongdoing.

The investigation found that the pursuit was justified, that he'd done everything right.

But Tom was struggling afterward.

He was thinking negative thoughts about the incident.

It was all abstract processing.

Why did I even initiate that pursuit?

Why do these things keep happening in my career?

What's wrong with me?

Am I cut out for this job?

He was ruminating, going over and over the same thoughts, generating guilt and self doubt, but not actually processing the trauma.

Tom's peer support reached out to him and introduced him to the concept of concrete versus abstract processing.

They worked with him to shift how he was thinking about the incident.

Instead of asking why did this happen?

They helped him walk through exactly what happened.

I observed the vehicle and confirmed it matched the description.

I attempted a traffic stop.

The suspect fled.

I followed department pursuit policy.

The suspect drove recklessly, endangering multiple civilians.

The suspect lost control and crashed.

I immediately called for medical assistance.

These are concrete facts.

They're what actually happened.

Step by step Tom noticed.

When he focused on the facts, his emotional arousal decreased.

The guilt and self doubt started to lift.

He could see that he'd acted appropriately.

That the suspect's choices had led to the outcome that Tom wasn't responsible for those choices.

The concrete processing didn't make the incident easy, but it helped him process the experience more effectively.

It helped him move forward instead of staying stuck in rumination.

That's the power of concrete processing.

Another key aspect of reasoning is recognizing and avoiding cognitive traps.

Patterns of thinking that distort reality and undermine your resilience.

Let me walk you through some cognitive traps that are most relevant for law enforcement.

All or Nothing Thinking Seeing things in black and white Categories if I'm not perfect, I'm a failure.

This is common among officers who hold themselves to impossibly high standards.

Example an officer makes a minor mistake on a report and thinks, I'm a terrible cop.

I can't do anything right.

The reality Everyone makes mistakes.

One mistake doesn't define your competence.

Overgeneral Asian Taking one event and making a broad generalization this always happens to me.

Nothing ever works out.

Example an officer has a difficult interaction with the citizen and thinks the community hates us.

Nothing I do makes a difference.

The reality One difficult interaction doesn't represent the entire community.

Many interactions are positive or neutral.

Mental Filter Focusing exclusively on the negative while filtering out the positive.

An officer receives praise from supervisors and citizens all week, but gets one complaint and can only think about that complaint.

The reality One negative doesn't erase multiple positives.

A balanced view acknowledges both.

Personalization Believing you're responsible for things outside your control.

An officer responds to a suicide call and thinks, if only I'd gotten there sooner, I could have saved them.

The reality Many factors contribute to suicide.

The officer's arrival time is just one variable among many should statements.

Having rigid rules about how things should be, which leads to frustration and guilt.

I should never feel afraid.

I should be able to handle anything without it affecting me.

I should always be in control of my emotions.

The reality these rigid expectations are unrealistic.

Fear, emotional responses, and vulnerability are all normal and human.

Catastrophizing Assuming the worst possible outcome will happen.

An officer makes a mistake and immediately thinks I'm going to get fired.

My career is over.

My family will lose everything.

The Reality Most mistakes have consequences far less severe than catastrophic thinking predicts.

The key to overcoming these cognitive traps is to notice when you're falling into them and consciously challenge the distorted thought.

Lets talk about a specific reasoning skill that's incredibly powerful.

Reframing Reframing is the ability to find an alternative interpretation that's more helpful and more accurate.

Recognizing that your initial interpretation of an event isn't the only possible interpretation and often isn't the most accurate one.

Let me give you examples of reframing In Action Situation an officer is injured on duty and has to go on light duty for several months.

Initial Frame My career is over.

I'm useless.

I'm letting my team down.

Reframe this is temporary.

I'm healing.

I can use this time to develop other skills.

Maybe work on investigations, help with training, or mentor newer officers.

My team understands that injuries happen and they support my recovery.

Situation an officer's body camera fails during a critical incident, which complicates the investigation.

Initial Frame this makes me look guilty.

No one will believe my account.

This is a disaster.

Reframe Technology fails Sometimes my actions were appropriate regardless of whether they were recorded.

There are other forms of evidence witness statements, physical evidence, my written report.

The truth will come out.

Situation an officer is passed over for a promotion they wanted.

I'm not good enough.

I'll never advance.

My career is stalled.

Reframe this doesn't mean I'm not good at my job.

There were likely many qualified candidates in limited positions.

This gives me a chance to develop more skills and try again.

Maybe there's a different path forward I haven't considered.

Notice that in each case, the reframe doesn't deny the difficulty or disappointment, but it provides a more balanced, realistic and helpful way of thinking about the situation.

You have to consciously pause when you notice yourself having a negative reaction and ask, is there another way to look at this?

What would I tell a friend or colleague who was thinking this way?

Another key component of the reasoning domain is problem solving ability.

Research shows that people who feel capable of solving problems, who can identify resources and develop action plans, are significantly more resilient.

This matters for officers because you face complex problems constantly and when you feel capable of handling those problems, it builds self efficacy and reduces stress.

Here's a simple problem solving framework.

1.

Define the problem clearly.

What exactly is the issue?

Be specific.

I'm stressed is too vague.

I'm having trouble sleeping because I keep replaying that last critical incident is specific.

2.

Identify resources.

What resources do you have available?

This might include your training and experience, peer support, supervisory support, counseling services, your family, your financial resources, your physical health, etc.

3.

Brainstorm possible solutions.

Come up with multiple options.

Don't evaluate them yet, just generate ideas.

The goal is quantity at this stage.

4.

Evaluate options.

Now look at each option and consider.

What are the pros and cons?

What resources would this require?

How feasible is this?

5.

Choose and implement.

Pick the best option given your resources and constraints.

Create a specific action plan with steps and timeline.

6.

Evaluate and adjust.

After implementing, check.

Is this working?

Do I need to try something else?

What did I learn?

The key here is that going through this process, even if your first solution doesn't work perfectly, builds your sense of competence and control.

You're actively working on the problem rather than feeling helpless.

And research shows that this sense of control and efficacy is one of the strongest protective factors against depression and anxiety.

Another aspect of reasoning that's important for resilience is the ability to think about and plan for the future.

When people are depressed or experiencing high anxiety, they often lose the ability to think constructively about the future.

Everything feels overwhelming.

They can't see a way forward.

Resilient thinking involves maintaining the ability to plan, to set goals, to imagine positive futures, even when things are difficult in the present.

This doesn't mean denying current difficulties.

It means holding both truths at the same time.

Right now is hard, and I can work toward making things better.

For officers, this might involve setting professional development goals even when you're struggling.

Planning for retirement or career transitions.

Identifying skills you want to develop, Thinking about how you want to be remembered when you retire.

The simple act of thinking about and planning for the future is therapeutic.

It reminds you that the current difficulty is temporary, that you have agency, that there's a path forward.

Let me show you how reasoning connects to the other pr6 domains.

Reasoning and vision.

Your thinking patterns directly affect your sense of purpose.

If you're stuck in catastrophic thinking or overgeneralization, it's hard to maintain a clear sense of meaning.

But when you can think flexibly and realistically, you can see how even difficult experiences connect to your larger purpose.

Reasoning and composure.

This connection is huge.

The reappraisal techniques we talked about in the Composure episode are essentially reasoning skills applied to emotional regulation.

When you can think about situations in more helpful ways, it's easier to manage your emotional response.

Reasoning and tenacity.

Your ability to persist through difficulties depends heavily on how you think about setbacks.

If you catastrophize every obstacle, you're going to give up.

But if you can frame setbacks as learning opportunities and problem solve effectively, you're more likely to keep going.

Reasoning and Collaboration how you think about other people affects your relationships.

If you're quick to assume the worst about people's intentions, if you personalize their behavior, if you fall into all or nothing thinking about relationships, you're going to struggle to connect.

But if you can think more flexibly about others actions and motivations, you'll build stronger connections.

Reasoning and Health.

Your thinking patterns affect your health behaviors.

If you think there's no point in exercising, nothing I do matters anyway.

You're not going to take care of yourself.

But if you can think realistically about the benefits of healthy habits, you you're more likely to maintain them.

See the pattern Reasoning isn't just one isolated skill.

How you think affects every other aspect of your resilience.

So what can you do today to strengthen your reasoning domain?

First, practice concrete processing.

The next time you experience a difficult event, it doesn't have to be a major trauma, just something stressful.

Try walking through it in concrete terms.

What exactly happened?

Who was involved?

What was the sequence of events?

Notice how different this feels from asking, why did this happen to me?

Or what does this mean?

Second, start catching your cognitive distortions.

Keep a simple log for a week.

When you notice yourself having a strong negative thought, write it down.

Then identify which cognitive trap it falls into.

All or nothing, overgeneralization, mental filter, etc.

Just the act of noticing these patterns starts to weaken their grip on you.

Third, practice reframing.

Once you've identified a cognitive distortion, challenge it.

Ask yourself, what's another way to look at this?

What would I tell a colleague who is thinking this way?

What's a more balanced perspective?

Write down your reframe.

Fourth, use the problem solving framework.

Pick one problem you're currently facing, doesn't have to be huge, and work through the six steps.

Define it clearly.

Identify resources, brainstorm options, evaluate, implement, and adjust.

The process is as important as the solution.

Fifth, spend a few minutes thinking about your future.

Where do you want to be in 1 year?

3 years?

5 years?

What skills do you want to develop?

What do you want your life to look like when you retire?

Just the act of thinking constructively about the future builds resilience.

And here's something important.

Be patient with yourself.

These thinking patterns developed over years.

They're not going to change overnight.

But every time you catch a distorted thought and reframe it, you're creating new neural pathways in your brain, you're literally rewiring your thinking patterns.

Let me bring this back to why reasoning matter so much for preventing PTSD and other trauma related problems.

Research is very clear.

It's not just the trauma itself that determines whether someone develops ptsd.

It's how they think about the trauma.

If you interpret a traumatic event as evidence that the world is completely dangerous, that you're incompetent, that you'll never recover, that nothing you do matters, those interpretations will keep your limbic system activated.

They'll generate chronic anxiety and hypervigilance.

They'll prevent you from processing the trauma effectively.

But if you can think about the same traumatic event more realistically, acknowledging the difficulty while also recognizing your competence, the support available to you, the fact that most situations are not as dangerous as this one, your ability to recover those interpretations, help your brain process the trauma and move forward.

This is why cognitive therapy is one of the most effective treatments for ptsd.

It teaches people to recognize and challenge the distorted thinking patterns that keep trauma alive.

But here's the you don't have to wait until you develop PTSD to use these skills.

You can learn these reasoning skills now before you need them.

You can practice them with smaller stressors so they're available when you face major trauma.

That's what proactive resilience training is all about.

Building the skills before the crisis so you have them when you need them most.

Let me close with one more important point about reasoning.

The goal isn't to always think positively.

The goal is to think flexibly.

Psychological flexibility, the ability to adapt your thinking to fit reality rather than forcing reality to fit your rigid beliefs, is one of the strongest predictors of resilience.

This means sometimes acknowledging that a situation is really bad, sometimes feeling your emotions fully rather than rationalizing them away.

Sometimes accepting uncertainty rather than forcing premature conclusions.

The officers who struggle most aren't necessarily the ones who think negatively.

They're the ones who think rigidly.

They have one way of looking at things, and when reality doesn't match that view, they fall apart.

The most resilient officers are cognitively flexible.

They can look at situations from multiple angles.

They can hold competing ideas in their minds.

At the same time, they can change their thinking when new information comes in.

So as you practice these reasoning skills, remember, the goal isn't perfection, it's flexibility.

It's having options for how to think about difficult situations.

It's building a mental toolbox that's full of different ways to interpret and respond to adversity.

Here's what I want you to take away from today's episode.

How you think about events can be just as important as the events themselves in determining your mental health outcomes.

The same traumatic incident can lead to PTSD in one officer and post traumatic growth in another, depending largely on how they think about it.

The key reasoning skills we covered today, concrete versus Abstract processing, recognizing cognitive distortions, reframing, problem solving, and future planning are all evidence based techniques that can protect your mental health and build resilience.

These skills require practice.

Your thinking patterns developed over years and changing them takes time and effort.

But every time you catch a distorted thought and challenge it, every time you choose concrete over abstract processing, every time you reframe a situation more helpfully, you're strengthening your resilience.

Remember, you have more control over how you think than you might realize, and that control is one of your most powerful tools for building and maintaining resilience throughout your career.

In our next episode, we're going to Explore Tenacity, the fourth domain of the PR6 model.

We're going to talk about persistence, motivation, realistic optimism, and how to keep moving forward even when things are incredibly difficult.

Thank you for listening to Police Speak.

Stay safe out there.

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Police Speak.

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