Title: General - Secondary PTSD - An Overview | My PTSD Forum
Headings: General
Secondary PTSD - An Overview

General Secondary PTSD - An Overview
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Content: Secondary Exposure
The literature on secondary exposure has largely focused on the development of trauma symptoms. Several terms have been advanced to describe apparent cases of PTSD that do not qualify for the official PTSD diagnosis because the exposure was secondary rather than direct. Instead, the individual has been said to have a different disorder, usually called Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder (STSD), vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue or empathic strain. Regardless of which term is used, there is evidence indicating that these cases do exist and have occurred among professional helpers. Although it is not yet clear how often secondary exposure leads to the development of trauma symptoms, it is probably safe to say that it is fairly infrequent that secondary exposure produces the complete PTSD syndrome. But does this mean that it is safe to say that professional helpers are only infrequently affected by their secondary exposure to trauma survivors? I believe the answer is no. The development of dramatic PTSD symptoms is only one of the ways in which professional helpers are affected by their exposure to secondary traumatic stress
The ways in which professional helpers are affected may not be as obvious only because we don't think of them as symptoms. For example, can you imagine a professional helper coming home from performing a critical incident debriefing and going right to bed? It's highly unlikely.