This study explores the formulation of a new concept: vicarious resilience. It addresses the question of how psychotherapists who work with survivors of political violence or kidnapping are affected by their clients'stories of resilience. It focuses on the psychotherapists' interpretations of their clients' stories, and how they make sense of the impact that these stories have had on their lives. In semistructured interviews, 12 psychotherapists who work with victims of political violence and kidnapping were interviewed about their perceptions of their clients' overcoming of adversity. A phenomenological analysis of the transcripts was used to describe the themes that speak about the effects of witnessing how clients cope constructively with adversity. These themes are discussed to advance the concept of vicarious resilience and how it can contribute to sustaining and empowering trauma therapists.
This study further explores an investigation into the formulation of vicarious resilience with a U.S. sample. In semistructured interviews, 10 mental health providers working with survivors of torture were affected by their clients' stories of resilience. A grounded theory analysis of the transcripts found that participants were positively affected by the resilience of clients, their perspectives on life were altered, and they valued their therapy work with clients. These elements make up the phenomenon of vicarious resilience. Conceptual differences between vicarious resilience, posttraumatic growth, and empathic responses in trauma work are discussed.
This qualitative study examines the coexistence of vicarious resilience and vicarious trauma and explores the inclusion of intersectional identities in trauma work with torture survivors in specialized programs across the United States. A constructionist framework and a method of constant comparison discovered themes that speak about the effects of witnessing how clients cope constructively with adversity, and intersectional identities in social context. The data suggest that trauma therapists can be potentially transformed by their clients' resilience in positive, but not painless, ways. Choosing to work in the trauma field with survivors of torture and politically motivated violence involves immersion in profound ongoing experiences of intertwined pain, joy, and hope, and expanding the boundaries of selfpersonally and professionally.
An integrative training framework articulating multiple perspectives on the impact of trauma work is offered with a training/supervision exercise to address the complex and systemic relationships that affect therapists in both positive and negative manners. The concepts of vicarious trauma, vicarious resilience, compassion fatigue, resilience, posttraumatic growth, altruism born of suffering, and reciprocity are reviewed. The paper highlights the importance of vicarious resilience as a dimension of experience that counteracts the normally occurring fatiguing processes that trauma therapists experience. This paper offers an integrative training framework that connects key concepts in trauma work: vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, resilience, posttraumatic growth, altruism born of suffering, and vicarious resilience. It draws on the reciprocity of the therapeutic process to anchor these concepts. Vicarious resilience is highlighted as an important dimension of experience that counteracts the fatiguing processes that trauma therapists normally experience, strengthens therapists' motivation, helps them find new meanings and 67
This study explores the formulation of a new concept: vicarious resilience. It addresses the question of how psychotherapists who work with survivors of political violence or kidnapping are affected by their clients' stories of resilience. It focuses on the psychotherapists' interpretations of their clients' stories, and how they make sense of the impact that these stories have had on their lives. In semistructured interviews, 12 psychotherapists who work with victims of political violence and kidnapping were interviewed about their perceptions of their clients' overcoming of adversity. A phenomenological analysis of the transcripts was used to describe the themes that speak about the effects of witnessing how clients cope constructively with adversity. These themes are discussed to advance the concept of vicarious resilience and how it can contribute to sustaining and empowering trauma therapists.
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