Despite being a phone call away, emergency dispatchers handling traumatic calls can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

This is what a 2012 study from the Journal of Traumatic Stress found after interviewing 171 emergency dispatchers across 24 states. Heather Pierce, one of the authors of the study, said dispatchers may be at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “They’re dealing with these highly emotional situations and they have to restrain their own emotions to get through them,” Pierce said.

Dispatchers are taught to visualize a scene to figure out what needs to be done even, she said.

PSTD is an anxiety disorder often seen in combat soldiers, veterans and police officers, Pierce said. People who experience trauma suffer a great amount of emotional distress like fear, helplessness and horror. They show symptoms of PTSD like avoidance and hyper vigilance.

Dispatchers can sometimes receive help after enduring emotional distress. A critical incident stress debriefing is usually held after a major event, like a school shooting, where all responders speak with mental health professionals, Pierce said. Dispatchers are not always included in the debriefing, she said.

Pierce said she hopes this study will broaden the definition of trauma for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for 2013, so emergency dispatchers can be diagnosed with PTSD and received treatment.

Lt. Lisa Winkler, of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, said she has not seen any case of an emergency dispatcher suffering from PTSD, but would not be able to discuss it if she knew.

Being a dispatcher can be stressful as they don’t always know the outcome of medical emergency calls and can receive a large amount of calls in a day, like during a snowstorm. Sometimes stress identification classes are offered to reduce stress for dispatchers, Winkler said. Whether someone is fit to be a dispatcher is not foreseeable.

“You never know until the person is on the job,” Winkler said.