Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This article describes the personal and professional experiences of the author as a result of her direct exposure to the World Trade Center Disaster. The author proposes the use of the term shared trauma to describe the experience of clinicians exposed to the same collective trauma as their clients. Shared trauma can result in the blurring of clinician–client roles and increased clinician self-disclosure and emphasis on the shared nature of the experience. Posttraumatic growth can also occur, including in the professional realm where clinicians develop a renewed appreciation for the value of the profession, learn to initiate greater safeguards in protecting personal time, and gain an intimate understanding of patients’ traumatic experiences. The results of her 9/11 research as well as plans for collaborative research in environments characterized by chronic acts of terrorism or exposure to natural disasters are summarized.

Keywords

human-affected disasters work-related secondary trauma work-related primary trauma human-caused sources of trauma

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bauwens

Tosone

(2010). Professional posttraumatic growth after a shared traumatic experience: Manhattan clinicians’ perspectives on post 9/11 practice. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 15(6), 498-517.

Figley

C. R.

(Ed.). (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. New York, NY: Brunner Mazel.

Hoffman

(1999). Ritual and spontaneity in the psychoanalytic process: A dialectical-constructivist view. Hillside, NJ: The Analytic Press.

Leiter

M. P.

Maslach

(1988). The impact of interpersonal environment on burnout and organizational commitment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 9, 297-308.

McCann

Pearlman

(1990). Vicarious traumatization: A framework for understanding the psychological effects of working with victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3, 131-149.

Pearlman

MacIan

(1995). Vicarious traumatization: An empirical study of the effects of trauma work on trauma therapists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 26, 558-565.

Pearlman

Saakvitne

(1995). Trauma and the therapist: Countertransference and vicarious traumatization in psychotherapy with incest survivors. New York, NY: Norton.

Stamm

B. H.

(2002). Measuring compassion satisfaction as well as fatigue: Developmental history of the fatigue and satisfaction test. In Figley

C. R.

(Ed.), Treating compassion fatigue (pp. 107-119). New York, NY: Brunner Mazel.

Tedeschi

R. G.

Calhoun

L. G.

(2004). The posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15, 1-18.

10.

Tosone

(2006). Therapeutic intimacy: A post 9/11 perspective. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 76(4), 89-98.

11.

Tosone

Bialkin

(2003). Mass violence and secondary trauma: Issues for the children. In Straussner

S. L. A.

Phillips

N. K.

(Eds.), Understanding mass violence a social work perspective (pp. 157-167). New York, NY: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.

12.

Tosone

Bialkin

Campbell

Charters

Gieri

Gross

. . . Stefan

(2003). Shared trauma: Group reflections on the September 11th disaster. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 10, 57-77.

13.

van der Kolk

(2002). Posttraumatic therapy in the age of neuroscience. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 12, 381-392.

The Legacy of September 11

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References