Vicarious Trauma

Vicarious trauma is a multifactorial phenomenon that may occur for several reasons. However, the presence of the following risk factors significantly increases the chances of experiencing it.

Excessive Empathy

People who show a high level of interpersonal empathy or seem to care deeply about their love are more vulnerable to developing vicarious trauma at some point in life.

Age and Experience

People who are young and relatively inexperienced in their respective fields may expose themselves to more significant personal stress. This is because most of them have yet to develop mechanisms to cope with these new world views on their own and may end up developing vicarious trauma in learning.

Lack of Training

Knowing how to respond to and manage emotions can be difficult for a person with insufficient skills or training in their respective fields. As a result, they may develop strong negative feelings while dealing with trauma survivors who may quickly exacerbate vicarious trauma due to a lack of coping mechanisms. To minimize this risk, many organizations that constantly deal with trauma victims provide emotional containment training to help their employees handle themselves through crises.

Gender

Females are much more likely to develop vicarious trauma than males due to their natural inclination towards developing emotional bonds more quickly than their counterparts.

Personal History of Mental Health Problems or Violence

People with traumatic past life events or pre-existing mental health conditions, like depression or anxiety, are more vulnerable to vicarious trauma during a job requiring direct contact with trauma survivors. A personal history of trauma, such as child neglect and abuse, may place someone at greater risk as they struggle to adjust to the current traumatic events of other people. They may also face higher anxiety levels while dealing with these cases than those with sound mental health.

Individual Coping Styles

How an individual responds to stress also influences their sense of well-being. For example, someone with active coping styles who regularly seek emotional support is at low risk of vicarious trauma. In contrast, those who seek refuge in harmful coping mechanisms, such as avoidance, substance misuse, and disengagement, may considerably increase the risk.

Common Negative Reactions to Vicarious Trauma

Every person experiences the effects of vicarious trauma differently. However, some common adverse reactions that most of them are likely to exhibit include:

• Difficulty in managing emotions
• Sleep-related issues, such as insomnia or over-sleepiness
• Feeling emotionally numb
• Being easily distracted that causes increase the risk of accidents
• Experiencing unusual physical problems, such as aches and pains, frequent illnesses, etc.
• Feeling as if you have lost any meaning in life
• Experiencing hopelessness about the future
• Relationship issues, such as increased social isolation, frequent personal conflicts, and avoidance of intimacy
• Increased irritability or aggressiveness
• Frequent violent or angry outbursts
• Excessively worrying about potential dangers in the world
• Adopting destructive coping behaviors, such as substance abuse, over or undereating, and gambling
• Losing interest in activities that you previously used to enjoy
• Avoiding work and interactions with patients
• Other symptoms, suggestive of posttraumatic stress disorder, such as flashbacks of any trauma you have heard about from a patient, getting nightmares, etc.