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PI Brief Update

Helping the helpers, the hidden problem of Secondary Traumatisation - Dr Kim Whitaker

11/04/12. An often hidden aspect of traumatic exposure can be the impact on those workers who help trauma and disaster victims. These people include psychologists and other mental health professionals, but also the emergency workers, and members of the legal profession. Secondary traumatisation is a condition not often discussed, the symptoms are similar to PTSD, i.e., re-experiencing images of the traumas of the person receiving aid, avoidance of reminders of this material, numbing in affect and function, and persistent arousal.

A small number of studies have focused on psychological responses in legal and law enforcement professionals who work with trauma victims...

Image ©iStockphoto.com/VisualField

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The opinions expressed in the articles are the authors' own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand. 

Professional advice should always be obtained before applying any information to particular circumstances.

Excerpts from judgments and statutes are Crown copyright. Any Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under the Open Government Licence.