Secondary Traumatic Stress
Psychological Concepts
Secondary Traumatic Stress
Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), also called vicarious trauma or compassion fatigue, occurs when you're exposed to someone else's traumatic experiences and begin developing trauma symptoms yourself. This commonly affects therapists, first responders, nurses, social workers, and caregivers—but also partners and family members of trauma survivors.
Unlike burnout (which is gradual exhaustion), secondary trauma can onset suddenly after hearing about or witnessing a particularly distressing event. The symptoms mirror PTSD: intrusive thoughts, avoidance, hypervigilance, and emotional numbing.
Who Is At Risk
Secondary trauma is not a sign of weakness—it's a sign of empathy. The very qualities that make someone effective at helping others (deep empathy, emotional attunement) also make them vulnerable to absorbing others' pain.
Why This Matters
Recognizing secondary trauma prevents burnout, career abandonment, and personal suffering. Those who help others must also protect themselves, or they lose the capacity to help anyone.
Signs & Indicators
Signs of Secondary Trauma
- Intrusive thoughts about clients' or loved ones' trauma
- Nightmares or sleep disturbances
- Avoiding reminders of traumatic material
- Feeling emotionally numb or detached
- Hypervigilance or increased anxiety
- Feeling hopeless about humanity or the world
- Difficulty separating work from personal life
- Changes in worldview (losing trust, seeing danger everywhere)
- Physical symptoms: fatigue, headaches, illness