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

General Secondary PTSD - An Overview
Similar threads
Exposure Therapy Advice/ Tips?
My new partner did not respond well AT ALL when I opened up about past sexual abuse and assault. He is a CSA survivor, so I'm confused
Trauma or just an 'unfortunate event'?
Sufferer New and hoping I'm not alone - PTSD & ED
Other Everything filtered through trauma lens, getting past it? Suggestions?

Content: General - Secondary PTSD - An Overview | My PTSD Forum
Log in Register
What's new Search
Search
Everywhere Threads This forum This thread
Search titles only
By: Search
Advanced search…
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Navigation
Install the app
Install
More options
Change style
Contact us
Close Menu
Forums
Supporters (Spouses, Friends & Family)
Supporter Discussion
General Secondary PTSD - An Overview
Thread starter
anthony
Start date
Dec 22, 2009
Status
Not open for further replies. Dec 22, 2009
#1
Secondary Stress and the Professional Helper
Don R. Catherall
For more than a decade, the field of traumatology has recognized that those who interact with trauma survivors are themselves exposed to a form of traumatic stress. Whereas the trauma survivor is exposed to a primary trauma and the accompanying traumatic stress, the helper is exposed to the trauma survivor and an accompanying secondary traumatic stress. This distinction between primary and secondary exposure is blurred somewhat by the evolution of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual’s definition of PTSD. DSM-IV now defines the stressor event to include learning of a trauma occurring to a loved one. Parents who are traumatized when they learn of their child’s trauma are classified as having PTSD. In the past, many theorists might have classified the parents as having secondary exposure because they were not directly exposed to the traumatic event. However, in the language of DSM-IV, the traumatic event is the discovery that a loved one has been in a trauma. This still differs from the experience of interacting with that trauma survivor.