Suicidality and Mental Health among Emergency Responders: Analyzing First Responder Self-Administered Mental Health Questionnaires for Rates of Pathology and Suicidal Ideation.
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine · 2026-06-26 · Observational study
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: We first test whether police officers have different base-rates of suicidality than other first responders; second, we use both theory and correlations with less stigmatized admissions of psychopathology (i.e., endorsements of hopelessness, anhedonia, and other depressive symptoms) to make inferences about the accuracy of self-reported suicidality among police officers. METHODS: Accessing a heretofore untapped database of 2,281 first responders to the September 11 th terrorist attack, we report statistics on suicidal ideation, including its frequency and correlations to mental health symptoms. RESULTS: Contra prior findings, this study did not find disparities among first responders, and instead found police officers exhibiting similar rates of psychopathology and suicidality. CONCLUSIONS: This study's significance extends from its interpretation of suicidal ideation within the larger ecosystem of psychological functioning, an approach applicable to patients motivated to deny suicidal ideation.
Abstract © the authors or publisher, via PubMed. Reuse and removal
Tags
Clinician perspective · Terror attacks & active shooter events · Fire service & police
Related articles
- World Trade Center-related physical and mental health burden among New York City Fire Department emergency medical service workers. (Occup Environ Med, 2016)
- Impact of Crisis Intervention on the Mental Health Status of Emergency Responders Following the Berlin Terrorist Attack in 2016. (Disaster Med Public Health Prep, 2020)
- [Mental health support for disaster relief personnel]. (Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi, 2014)
- Predicting profiles of post-trauma adaptation in first responders and civilians after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings: The role of distress, growth, and emotion regulation. (J Emerg Manag, 2023)
- Risk Factors Associated with Suicidal Ideation and Suicidal Behavior in Wildland Firefighters. (Arch Suicide Res, 2025)
- Psychometric evaluation of the Turkish version of the Work-Related Stress Scale: A study among search and rescue workers responding to the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes. (J Health Psychol, 2025)