By Andriana Simos.
When we think of nurses, paramedics, psychologists and counsellors, many of us believe they will do everything they need to do to keep us safe and protected. What we don’t consider are the intense impacts this expectation can have on these medical professionals. Being constantly exposed to the traumatic experiences of their patients is not to be taken lightly. Rather, the after effects of these experiences can snowball into something called vicarious trauma. Vicarious trauma has existed for some decades and yet, it’s a field of research that remains in its infancy. I will try to contribute to this research by investigating the condition and asking the hard questions- What is vicarious trauma? What are the causes? What are the symptoms? and Can it be treated?
Vicarious trauma can develop as a result of clinicians engaging empathically on an ongoing basis with their client’s traumatic experiences, including child abuse, sexual assault, rape and other violence or accidents. It involves listening to clients debrief their trauma and witnessing the pain, fear and terror these trauma survivors have endured.
Research shows that workers who are repeatedly, and for prolonged periods of time, exposed to clients or patients’ trauma are more at risk of developing vicarious trauma. Those practitioners who have their own personal history of trauma are also more vulnerable to developing such difficulties. It’s unsurprising then that statistics show how up to 85% of mental health workers will suffer from vicarious trauma in their professional career.
Toni Langford, a counsellor for TLC Toni Langford Counselling, experienced vicarious trauma herself. She described how working on the counselling phone lines of a national support service and listening to constant traumatic experiences, played a huge role in her spiralling towards vicarious trauma.
“I was on the counselling phone lines of a national support service. There was little or no immediate professional supervision support and with the constant calls (up to 36 in a seven-hour shift), the nature of the calls, the procedures and policies that demanded following, and the key performance indicators (KPI’s) that were unattainable, I broke,” Toni said.
“I didn’t see it coming. It was a slow erosion of who I thought I was and who I was becoming.”
Dr Rebecca Diehm, a clinical psychologist and lecturer at Deakin University’s School of Psychology, describes how this feeling of losing one’s identity and changes to one’s beliefs are one of the key aspects of vicarious trauma.
“Because of repeated exposure to clients’ experiences of trauma, people are trying to make sense of how they can happen to people and it makes you question- that the world is safe, that life is meaningful or that people are essentially good,” Dr Diehm said.
“It can also lead to changes in how safe you feel, how much you want to be intimate with other people potentially, not sexually necessarily but intimate and connected to other people, how much control that you feel you have over yourself and other people.”
Other noticeable symptoms relevant to vicarious trauma include hyper vigilance (being ever aware of surroundings), very noise and movement sensitive, using alcohol or drugs to numb self, lack of sleep or sleeping all the time, having a short fuse and getting angry or frustrated at the smallest thing.
The list goes on (click here to see more signs and symptoms).
Now, the question remains- How is vicarious trauma treated? Both Toni and Dr Diehm have important advice.
Toni said that these symptoms can all be treated using either psychological therapy, talking therapy or medication in the short term.
“With time and the right treatment plan in place, there is a very high success rate. Some people may find they can’t do some things they used to, however, a return to a normal sustainable and productive life is expected,” Toni explained.
Dr Diehm goes one step further to explain that while there is little research evidence to show he most effective methods for mitigating the impact of vicarious trauma, it’s important for clinicians at risk of developing the condition to reduce their level of secondary exposure to trauma.
“So if you had a client load where the majority have experienced trauma then maybe you would try and break up your work a little bit, so that you have a wide variety of clients or patients,” Dr Diehm advised.
“Being self-reflective and self-monitoring- noticing what is happening for you and being aware of your own personal vulnerabilities could also help.”
It is this point which resonates with me the most. Understanding that medical professionals also need time for self-care is a step in the right direction towards reducing the prevalence of vicarious trauma. In fact, Toni summed this up quite nicely when she said: “It takes a stronger person to ask for and accept help and support than it does to ignore and close your eyes to the fact that you need that help.” On that note, as the friends and family of people who may experience vicarious trauma in the future, it is our job to know about this condition and ensure that we guide people towards the relevant professional support when they ask for help.
*Originally published on BLLC*
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