Updated on August 10, 2025
If your work brings you face-to-face with crises, it can quietly change your mental health. Firefighters, EMTs, law enforcement officers, and therapists may witness traumatic events in person, while nurses, healthcare providers, social workers, teachers, and family caregivers often absorb traumatic stories through sessions, reports, and calls. Whether the exposure is direct or indirect, repeated contact with traumatic experiences becomes an occupational hazard called vicarious trauma.
Vicarious trauma grows from repeated empathy for hard stories and ongoing trauma exposure. For many helpers, it leads to emotional exhaustion, hypervigilance, and symptoms that resemble post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You can lower your risk with a few reliable tools, protect your wellness, and keep showing up for those who count on you.
What Vicarious Trauma Looks Like on the Job
Researchers McCann and Pearlman coined the term in the 1990s after noticing that psychotherapists and other care providers began to absorb clients’ fears and beliefs. The impact of vicarious trauma is not just about long shifts. It is the effect of hearing or witnessing traumatic material daily through indirect exposure.
- Secondary trauma, also called secondary traumatization, is the stress that comes from helping or wanting to help someone who has faced trauma.
- Indirect exposure to traumatic material can reshape beliefs about safety, trust, control, and intimacy.
- Vicarious trauma shows up across helping professions: social work, healthcare, law enforcement, first responders, clergy, educators, and supportive family members.
Common Signs to Watch
Here are common signs and symptoms of vicarious trauma. They often start slow and build over time.
- Intrusive thoughts or vivid images of someone else’s traumatic experiences
- Hypervigilance or jumpiness during everyday moments in your personal life
- Difficulty concentrating or making routine decisions at work or home
- Emotional distress such as irritability, feeling on edge, or a short fuse after difficult shifts
- Emotional numbness or feeling detached from family and friends
- Negative impact on mood, including ongoing sadness, anger, or hopelessness
- Sleep trouble and recurring nightmares related to traumatic events
- Belief changes, such as assuming the world is unsafe or people are untrustworthy
- Coping shifts like new substance abuse or other risky coping mechanisms
- Physical stressor,s including headaches, stomach issues, or fatigue
Brain imaging studies describe these effects of vicarious trauma. Long-term stress can alter how the amygdala and hippocampus regulate emotion and memory.
Why Helping Roles Face Higher Risk
Healthcare providers may witness loss daily, police officers routinely confront violence, and teachers often hold space for students’ traumatic experiences. Repeatedly stepping into others’ crises can blur the line between empathy and personal pain. The risk of vicarious trauma rises when:
- Work settings lack trauma-informed support, regular debrief time, or clear protocols after difficult shifts
- Boundaries between work and personal life are thin
- You have high empathy but limited coping skills or social support
- Risk factors stack up, such as limited sleep, heavy caseloads, or a history of personal trauma
- Stressors spill over into your personal life without spending enough time on restorative activities
Seeing vicarious trauma as an occupational hazard, not a personal flaw, is the first step toward change.
A heartfelt thank you to the Austin Police, Austin-Travis County EMS, the Austin Fire Department, and the many Austin therapists and healthcare professionals who show up for our community daily. Your presence during life’s most challenging moments saves lives, steadies families, and helps our city heal. We’re also grateful for first responders and mental health professionals across Texas who do this work with courage, compassion, and skill.
Five Tools That Help
1. Name It and Talk It Out
Putting feelings into words helps calm the brain’s fear center. Share what you notice with a trusted colleague, supervisor, or therapist. A brief debrief at the end of a shift, especially after intense traumatic material, keeps those stories from following you home. Peer support groups in the helping professions add perspective and steady social support.
2. Work Mindfulness into Small Moments
Mindfulness resets the nervous system after trauma exposure. Try slow breathing, a one-minute body scan before the next appointment, or a quick grounding exercise in the car. Even three mindful minutes lower stress and sharpen focus. A short guided track on your phone makes consistency easier.
3. Build a Reflective Support Web
Regular supervision, consultation, or support groups give you a safe place to process secondary trauma. Care providers who meet in reflective circles report fewer symptoms and steadier wellness. Loop in family members when it helps, and let close friends know what kind of check-ins you find helpful.
4. Diversify Your Coping Skills Toolkit
Rotate healthy coping strategies so one approach does not have to do all the work.
- Movement: a brisk walk between calls, yoga, or dance
- Creative outlets: music, painting, writing, or simple sketching
- Nature time: short hikes, gardening, or sunlight on the porch
- Social support: coffee with a friend, a call with a mentor, or a peer lunch
- Professional help: therapy, coaching, or trauma-informed workshops
If you notice unhelpful coping mechanisms, including increased substance abuse, talk with a professional sooner rather than later.
5. Revisit Your “Why” and Look for Post-Traumatic Growth
Vicarious trauma can shake your sense of meaning. Pause to remember why you chose this path, whether that is helping kids learn, saving lives, or supporting survivors. That reflection can open the door to post-traumatic growth. When you reconnect with purpose, stress feels more manageable and hope returns.
Boundaries That Protect Your Mental Health
- Change clothes or wash your hands after work to mark the end of the day
- Use a commute ritual, such as one favorite song or a quick call with a friend
- Keep work devices out of the bedroom
- Block rest and fun on your calendar and treat them like appointments
- Remind yourself daily to take care of yourself first so you can keep caring for others
You Are Allowed to Ask for Help
Vicarious trauma is common in helping professions. Ignoring it leads to more secondary trauma, burnout, and errors on the job. Addressing it early reduces the impact of vicarious trauma, lowers the chance of turning to risky coping mechanisms, and supports steadier relationships at home and at work.
If you notice the symptoms of vicarious trauma creeping in, reach out for support. Firefly Therapy Austin offers trauma-informed counseling for helpers ready to protect their mental health while continuing their vital work.
References
Figley, C. R. (1995). Compassion Fatigue: Coping with Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder in Those Who Treat the Traumatized.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist.
Killian, K. D. (2008). Helping till it hurts? A multimethod study of compassion fatigue, burnout, and self-care in clinicians.
Kim, M. J., & Whalen, P. J. (2009). The structural integrity of the amygdala to the prefrontal pathway predicts trait anxiety.
Lieberman, M. D. et al. (2007). Putting feelings into words. Psychological Science.
Park, C. L. (2010). Meaning making and adjustment after stressful life events.
Pearlman, L. A., & Saakvitne, K. W. (1995). Trauma and the Therapist.
van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score.