Vicarious trauma: The psychological impact of working with survivors of trauma for South African psychologists

Abstract

Traumatic events are highly prevalent in South African society and psychologists who work with survivors of trauma have been identified as particularly at risk of being adversely affected by their work, and experiencing vicarious trauma. This study aimed to explore the experiences of a group of South African psychologists who work predominantly with trauma survivors. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with six psychologists (females = 67%). The predominant type of trauma encountered by participants in clinical practice was interpersonal trauma in the form of physical and sexual abuse (83%). Data were analysed using thematic analysis. All participants reported symptoms of vicarious trauma including disruption in cognitive schemas, symptoms characteristic of post-traumatic stress disorder, and somatic symptoms. Participants also reported vicarious post-traumatic growth including an enhanced sense of interpersonal connectedness and positive changes in their philosophy of life and self-perceptions. The findings serve to sensitise psychologists to the impact of working with trauma survivors so as to enhance the efficiency of psychological service delivery to traumatised populations.

Indirect exposure to client trauma and the impact on trainee clinical psychologists: Secondary traumatic stress or vicarious traumatization?

“…As STS or VT research with trainees is in its infancy, it would be premature to entirely discount the existence of VT among trainees. It may be useful to explore disrupted beliefs within qualitative research as this may facilitate the development of perhaps more appropriate or sensitive VT measures, because Sabin‐Farrell (), Fucci (), and Sui and Padmanabhanunni () found some qualitative evidence of cognitive changes consistent with the VT model. Indeed in their metasynthesis of 20 qualitative studies on VT and vicarious posttraumatic growth, Cohen and Collens () identified a theme involving changes in beliefs within the studies they reviewed.…”

The cost of caring: secondary traumatic stress and burnout among lay trauma counsellors in the Western Cape Province

“…Studies conducted in other developing countries (Uganda: Ager et al, 2012; India: Shah et al, 2007) have confirmed that lay counsellors in these settings are particularly vulnerable to STS and burnout as a consequence of their work. Nevertheless, the vast majority of South African research in this area has focused on the experiences of professionals including psychologists (Sui & Padmanabhanunni, 2016), nurses (Mashego et al, 2016), and social workers (MacRitchie & Leibowitz, 2010).…”

The experiences of clinical psychologists in treating traumatic stress at a tertiary psychiatric hospital in the Eastern Cape: A qualitative study

“…Several psychological treatments for PTSD have been developed over the last four decades [7]. Yet health professionals, such as clinical psychologists, are still at risk psychologically when treating persons with PTSD [1,8]. Treating PTSD is understood to be demanding as it requires re-tellings of the trauma narrative using various psychotherapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy [9].…”

“…Treating PTSD is understood to be demanding as it requires re-tellings of the trauma narrative using various psychotherapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy [9]. However, listening to the details of patients' trauma narratives exposes practitioners to traumatic stress, vicarious trauma and secondary trauma [8,10].…”