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: If we’re unable to regain our sense of perspective, then the next step is avoidance and our life becomes organized around what might happen, rather than what is happening. This is the point where secondary exposure produces secondary traumatization. It is not so easy to maintain our sense of perspective when our interactions with others are skewed by exposure to the traumatized among us. Only a tiny percentage of citizens are completely untrustworthy; most people deserve the benefit of the doubt. But in large urban areas, some police officers and constables are exposed to that tiny percentage on a daily basis. These men and women are at increased risk of losing their sense of perspective and becoming more suspicious of all citizens. We know that the same process can occur in working with trauma survivors. Just as with primary traumatic stress, the risk of losing our sense of perspective increases with greater exposure to secondary stressors. But, just as with survivors of primary trauma, the effects of secondary exposure are moderated by an environment populated by supportive listeners.