Differences in Suicidality in Non–Treatment-Seeking and Treatment-Seeking Law Enforcement Officers: A Cross-sectional Study.

Mental health professionals working with law enforcement officers (LEOs) should prioritize treating the depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms when this vulnerable population presents for treatment because both variables are significant predictors of suicidality. Clinicians should also assess negative affect and affective depression as those are consistently mentioned in the literature. Objective: Law enforcement officers (LEOs) are exposed to high levels of occupational trauma and face added stress from heightened public scrutiny and COVID-19, which may result in suicide. It is crucial to understand differences between LEOs who seek treatment and those who do not. Method: We compared LEOs from the same greater metropolitan area who sought treatment with those who did not. Participants completed validated measures assessing posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Results: The treatment-seeking sample scores were higher on all standardized assessments. Bivariate logistic regression results indicated that the non–treatment-seeking sample's odds of experiencing suicidality were 1.76 times the odds for the treatment seeking sample. Conclusions: This suggests that many LEOs experiencing suicidality may not be seeking treatment and highlights the role that posttraumatic stress disorder may play in determining whether LEOs seek treatment or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]