Personal trauma linked with secondary trauma mental health professionals

Mental health professionals often work with people who have been traumatised in some way, either through being direct victims of abuse, violence, serious injury and threats of death, or by witnessing these events. Listening to patients sharing these stories can put the professional at risk of themselves experiencing what is known as ‘secondary traumatic stress’. Is this more likely to happen if the professional also has a history of trauma?

Terms used in this field can be confusing:

• Secondary traumatic stress is an acute reaction with symptoms rather like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and experienced when professionals get psychologically overwhelmed in their desire to support others (Orru et al,…