The aim of this study was to investigate the association of a condition of ‘distress’ with the presence of self- reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and burnout, in a special force unit of the Italian police while control- ling for sociodemographical and occupational variables and personality traits. Previous studies on this cohort have shown that younger officers, those who were single, had a shorter length of service, lived in barracks, had a lower rank and who were closer to their families had a higher short-term sickness absence risk35 and that DCS control and support and ERI reward measures were negatively related to frequency of absence and short- term absence and that DCS demand and ERI effort measures were positively related to total lost days.36 Moreover, it has been reported that the majority of these officers described themselves as much more emotionally stable and slightly to moderately more extra- verted, agreeable, conscientious and open to experience than the general population and career soldiers4 and that some personality traits (mainly emotional stability and agreeableness) were associated to perceived stress levels or reactivity to environmental stressors.37