Vicarious Trauma Essay

Vicarious trauma refers to the effects of helpers exposing to clients’ traumatic experiences (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). It is a cumulative and permanent process which changes therapist way of perceiving self, other, and world. McCann and Pearlman (1990) conceptualized vicarious trauma within Constructivist Self-Development Theory (CSDT), which asserts that every individual experience and interpret life events through cognitive schemas. When developing schemas are impacted by exposing to traumatic events, the individual’s worldview subsequently changed. Such transformations may happen in helping field when counselors indirectly experience and pointed out that therapist characteristics including defensive styles, personal trauma history, interpersonal style, professional development, and current support, might be pre-existing factors contribute to the development of vicarious trauma (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). Other concepts such as Secondary traumatic stress, which Figley (1995) described as a symptom among helpers resulted from exposure to victims’ traumatic experiences, are similar to vicarious trauma.
Vicarious
Trauma in Helping Fields
A large proportion of literature exploring the effects of vicarious trauma focuses on populations in helping fields such as mental health professionals (Trippany, White Kress, & Wilcoxon, 2004; Sabin-Farrell & Turpin, 2003).
Due to the nature of the work in helping fields, the frequency of exposure to traumatic experiences is higher than other occupations. Besides, empathy, one of the characteristics of mental health workers is also considered as a necessary condition of vicarious trauma (Sabin-Farrell & Turpin, 2003). In their study, Pearlman and Mac Ian (1995) indicated that more training and support for newer therapists is needed. Studies exploring the experiences of vicarious trauma in therapist trainees have given out the implications for counseling educators (Shannon, Simmelink, Becher, Im, & Crook-Lyon, 2013; Adams & Riggs, 2008; Black,
2008).
Exposure to Traumatic Events in Training
Given the results from previous studies exploring experiences in students from graduate programs, students in training can present vicarious traumatic symptoms after exposure to traumatic materials (Adams & Riggs, 2008; Shannon et al., 2013). Triggered by traumatic experiences, survivors reported PTSD symptoms of reexperiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal (Shannon et al., 2013). Although further studies are needed for generalization, several variables such as personal trauma history, coping strategies, defense styles and self-care strategies were considered as possible factors causing symptoms of vicarious trauma.