Chapter 3: “Heroes” Need Some Help Too

Military firefighters play a relevant role in society and in their occupation they are exposed to major physical, social, and psychological risks. Our objective was to assess the subjective well-being and depressive symptoms in military firefighters and empirically test positive interventions. One hundred twentyseven military firefighters were assessed with the following instruments: Life Satisfaction Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Baptista Depression Scale—Adults and Sociodemographic Questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted to get the mean scores of the participants in every instrument. Every group had four positive psychotherapy meetings. Seventeen subjects were called and placed in different groups according to their level of depressive symptoms. A significant difference was found in mean depressive symptoms when they were retested, which might be related to the fact that they had the chance to perform emotional self-care, assess and learn about their own strengths and how to use them in their daily lives, stimulate positive relationships, reflect upon strategies to cope with adverse situations and manage their positive and negative emotions in their professional activities and personal life. We found that military firefighters developed a higher level of self-knowledge, psychoeducation for depressive symptoms, and their impacts, demystification regarding mental health.