Growth in the Shadow of War: The Case of Social Workers and Nurses Working in a Shared War Reality

Lev–Wiesel, Rachel; Goldblatt, Hadass; Eisikovits, Zvi; Admi, Hanna

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn021

Cited by 90 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…These experiences are in line with workers describing an increase of positive feelings and growth (Arnold et al 2005;Eidelson et al 2003;Lev-Wiesel et al 2008), feelings of closeness and intimacy to their clients (Batten and Orsillo 2002;Seeley 2003;Tosone 2006) and increased commitment to their clients and their professional role (Mathewson 2004;Seeley 2003).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Mental Health Practitioners’ Experiences During the Shared Trauma of the Forced Relocation from Gush Katif

Dekel

2010

Clin Soc Work J

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The study examined the experiences of 48 Israeli mental health practitioners who helped the residents of Gush Katif during the forced relocation. The practitioners spent between 1 week and a year-and-a-half assisting these residents. Shortly after the relocation, they participated in one of four debriefing groups, which aimed to process and summarize their work. Phenomenological analysis revealed three main themes: (1) Who are our clients: the government or the residents? (2) Blurring boundaries between professional and personal self; and (3) Returning home. The study highlighted the challenges associated with intervening in shared trauma, especially in realities of political conflict.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Mental Health Practitioners’ Experiences During the Shared Trauma of the Forced Relocation from Gush Katif

Dekel

2010

Clin Soc Work J

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“…These clinicians described their pride in helping clients to return to some form of normal functioning. Lev-Weisel et al (2009) referenced the importance of providing high quality supervision and peer supervision as a means of protecting the clinician from vicarious traumatization and preserving their ability to continue work in the trauma field. It took several years and a change in administration for the clinical concerns to be communicated effectively, eventually resulting in an enhanced case presentation and peer supervision process, as well as providing opportunities for clinicians to write about their work.…”

Section: Supervisory and Administrative Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shared Trauma: When the Professional is Personal

2012

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Concepts describing secondary trauma phenomena do not adequately capture the profound impact that collective catastrophic events can have on mental health professionals living and working in traumatogenic environments. Shared trauma, by contrast, contains aspects of primary and secondary trauma, and more accurately describes the extraordinary experiences of clinicians exposed to the same community trauma as their clients. Case vignettes from clinicians in Manhattan and Sderot, Israel are provided to illustrate the transformative changes that clinicians may undergo as a result of dual exposure to trauma. Discussion involves the importance of articulating one's own trauma narrative and attending to self-care prior to resuming clinical work, as well as opportunities for enhanced therapeutic intimacy and caution regarding boundary alterations that may result from clinician self-disclosure. Agency settings can provide the necessary education, supervision, and support to mitigate the negative effects of shared trauma.

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“…Among the problems with these outcomes is that they reflect the assumption that the professionals' distress derives mainly from their empathy with their helpees or clients (Boscarino et al 2004;Lev-Wiesel et al 2009;Saakvitne 2002). But it is not at all certain that this is the case where the person concerned is doubly exposed to the disaster as both an individual living in the stricken community and a professional providing services to persons under the same life threat as he or she faces.…”

Section: Need For An Additional Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most also probably soon bring their full attention back to their clients. In addition, there is a growing body of literature that points to vicarious resilience (Hernandez et al 2007) and secondary post traumatic growth (Arnold et al 2005;Lev-Wiesel et al 2009) or professional growth (Baum and Ramon 2010) among professionals working with victims of disasters. With this, reports also suggest that their lapses in availability and empathy cause at least some professionals considerable distress.…”

Section: Accounts Of Lapses Of Empathy and Their Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their descriptions were replete with examples of how this defense had hindered their wish to be more emotionally available to the clients'' (p. 1087). Lev-Wiesel et al (2009) point out that even though a certain level of emotional detachment is necessary for coping in an adverse situation, ''higher functional levels of dissociation (emotional detachment) may lead to higher levels of distress'' (p. 1169). Along similar lines, social work students studied by Tosone et al (2003) reported that following September 11th, in their efforts to avoid feeling re-traumatized, they were at times not present in sessions and had had become somewhat desensitized.…”

Section: Second Stage: Mobilization Of the Proximal Defenses And Furtmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trap of Conflicting Needs: Helping Professionals in the Wake of a Shared Traumatic Reality

Baum

2011

Clin Soc Work J

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Many professionals working in the wake of communal disasters are doubly exposed to the disaster, both as professionals and as members of the stricken community. Yet most studies of widely reported distress of these professionals examine manifestations like compassion fatigue, secondary traumatization, and vicarious traumatization, which do not take this double exposure into account. Moreover, these measures reflect the assumption that their distress is rooted in empathy with their clients or helpees. This paper argues that at least some of their distress derives from a self-perceived lapse of empathy. It contends that professionals living and working in a disaster stricken community are caught in a trap of conflicting inner needs stemming from the defenses they mobilize to cope with the heightened mortality salience aroused by communal disasters. Furthermore, it proposes an etiology of their distress.

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Growth in the Shadow of War: The Case of Social Workers and Nurses Working in a Shared War Reality

Cited by 90 publications

References 49 publications

Mental Health Practitioners’ Experiences During the Shared Trauma of the Forced Relocation from Gush Katif

Mental Health Practitioners’ Experiences During the Shared Trauma of the Forced Relocation from Gush Katif

Shared Trauma: When the Professional is Personal

Trap of Conflicting Needs: Helping Professionals in the Wake of a Shared Traumatic Reality

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