Professional, vicarious traumatization

Abstract

Psychotherapeutic work with traumatised people carries with it inherent risks both for the therapist and for the quality of the therapeutic relationship. These risks are examined through the concepts of transference and counter-transference. Vicarious traumatization seems to be a specific element of psychotherapeutic work with traumatized individuals that occurs as a result of an individual's basic humanity in developing an altruistic relationship with a suffering human being. Exposure to such traumatic experiences may affect the personality, affective capacity and behavioural traits of the therapist, causing positive or negative changes in their therapeutic abilities. Permanent work on the awareness and prevention of the negative consequences of vicarious traumatization is necessary to maintain a long term and successful psychotraumatological practice.