Given their compassionate professional mission of service, how tragic it is that physicians and clergy are among those at highest risk for stress, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, substance misuse, family discord, burnout and suicide.
Within this study, PHNs have described symptoms of burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma/secondary traumatic stress.
To support PHNs, and the NFP program, approaches to address compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma/secondary traumatic stress and burnout should be considered.
Similarly, returning service members may become frustrated and angry with a spouse who, despite not having directly experienced combat or deployment, is nevertheless functioning poorly due in part to symptoms of vicarious post-traumatic stress, depression, sleep problems, or anxiety (Renshaw et al. 2008).
The condition has numerous names: secondary traumatic stress (STS), vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue.
Teachers who work with traumatized students may suffer from chronic stress and vicarious trauma without even realizing it.
But when we don't attend to their stress and vicarious trauma, they can become worn-out and less effective, and in turn our students suffer.
The solution is for everyone to work together to create a safe, warm, caring school environment, which will mitigate the impact of chronic stress and vicarious trauma.
Recognizing the signs of chronic stress and vicarious trauma helps both teachers and school leaders understand the inner and outer chaos they may be experiencing: It doesn't arise because they're mean and lazy, or bad at their jobs; rather, it's a sign that everyone is stressed to the max and trying to cope, with few resources at hand.
Firefighters, journalists, nurses, physicians, social workers, members of the clergy, police officers, psychotherapists and anyone else whose work exposes them to violence and human suffering are at risk for developing vicarious traumatization (post-traumatic stress reactions experienced by those who are indirectly exposed to traumatic events).
