Trauma and Police Violence: Issues and Implications for Mental Health Professionals

In this piece, the authors present the case of a young Black American man who experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after an episode of police violence. Through engagement with this case, the authors consider whether trauma-focused psychotherapies, particularly trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapies (TF-CBT), are equipped to attend to contextual factors relevant to traumatic experiences of police violence. The authors suggest further research to determine for whom and in what contexts standard forms of psychotherapy as well as alternatives to TF-CBT are effective, and augmenting provider education to include advocacy strategies aimed at reducing police violence—advocacy that is relevant in the context of nationwide protests occurring after the officer-perpetrated killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others.