Depression, Anxiety and Stress of Police Officers in Sensitive and Insensitive Police Stations

Policing is globally considered the most dangerous profession for mental health. A part from the routine psychosocial stressors, the police officers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan have been additionally facing challenges caused by terrorism and war against terror. The current study, within the same perspective, was carried out to measure how appointment at sensitive or insensitive police stations could create differences in the most common psychological problems i.e. depression, anxiety and stress. The inquiry included 315 police officers from 3 major districts of the understudied province. Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) was administered. It was hypothesized that police officers appointed at sensitive police stations would project higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress as compared with police officers appointed at insensitive police stations. The findings confirmed the hypothesis highly significantly and were consistent with the similar studied carried out in other parts of the world.

Keywords: Police, Police Stations, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.