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: 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. It is within the domain of interacting with someone affected by trauma that the concept of secondary stress remains applicable. Since parents may both learn of a trauma to a loved one and subsequently interact with the survivor, they are subject to both direct and secondary exposure. The professional helper, on the other hand, is usually not involved with the survivor until after the trauma has occurred. Thus, the professional helper’s experience is generally confined to secondary exposure. The exception is in the case of disasters, where helpers may be on the scene either while the disaster is still in progress or while victims are still being rescued.