Coping with Secondary/Vicarious Trauma

Health professionals have long understood the impact of indirect exposure to traumatic events. With the increase in media coverage of traumatic events, the general population is also learning about the impact of vicarious/secondary traumatization. If you find that you are becoming upset after viewing/hearing about/or reading about a traumatic event (e.g., war, terrorism, etc.), you may want to review the information on this page.

Common Reactions to Trauma

Feelings:

• Fear
• Sadness
• Horror
• Helplessness
• Anger
• Emotional numbness
• Mood swings
• Grief
• Guilt
• Anxiety

Thinking:

• Recurrent