Other solutions
Molendijk, who works as a researcher with the police and is also affiliated with the Netherlands Defence Academy, stresses that when it comes to PTSD, a psychological approach is initially logical. “The essence of PTSD is that your sense of safety has been affected by a trauma. This requires psychological support,” she explains. “However, PTSD is not just a figment of the imagination. Nowadays you often see that different professions are offered preventive measures like mindfulness courses in order to prevent PTSD. Unfortunately, this only focuses on the individual, not on environmental factors. This type of approach may have negative consequences. Because it is unacceptable to put everything on the shoulders of someone who is already facing tough situations. In reality, they will then feel totally responsible for their own mental health, which will reinforce the sense of failure if symptoms develop.”
As an anthropologist, Molendijk instead argues for more focus on adaptability in the environment. “This includes the ways in which the support from colleagues and supervisors can be improved. And how people within politics and society can become more aware of their role in a trauma. By expanding the focus, it is possible to gain new insights and ultimately reach different solutions.”
Difference between the situation and the consequences
Through her research on trauma, Molendijk particularly focuses on moral injury, which includes profound dilemmas that military personnel, police staff and healthcare workers may face. “This doesn’t necessarily focus on life-threatening situations, but is mostly about situations in which your sense of a just world is threatened. This threat often results in feelings of guilt, shame and anger. Guilt and shame because you were unable to prevent the suffering of another, or anger about the role that your supervisor or politics played in creating traumatising situations. These kinds of feelings are about your relationship with others. And this is why the environment inevitably plays a role.”
Molendijk hopes that her research will help the armed forces, the police force and healthcare institutions to deal with PTSD better. Together with her research team, she is therefore conducting in-depth interviews with such people as police officers and military personnel. For this purpose, they deliberately speak to people both with and without PTSD. Molendijk: “Everyone in these professions experiences violent incidents, but the situations and the consequences will often differ from each other. It is extremely helpful to see which factors result in one person developing PTSD while the other one doesn’t. We also use participant observation: we spend time observing the subjects while they are on duty and record exactly what happens during major incidents.”
According to Molendijk, it is important that profound events in these professions are not just psychologised. “It’s actually quite logical that this work has an impact on them. It shows that they are human and will always remain so.” This appeals to Molendijk on a personal level. “The work of police officers, military personnel and healthcare workers is essential to society, yet it is also controversial. The police force and the armed forces in particular are organisations in which violence plays an important role, while healthcare often revolves around illness and death. As an anthropologist, this gives me the opportunity to conduct research that is relevant to the everyday world.”
Would you like to know more about PTSD and Tine Molendijk’s research? Watch or listen to the new episode of the Science Snacks podcast. Please note that this podcast is in Dutch.
