Secondary Trauma

The emotional effects and potential health consequences of another person’s traumatic experience on someone empathically connected to them. Often used interchangeably with vicarious traumatization, this term is more often used to convey effects on intimate others, friends and family members whereas VT often emphasizes the impact on professionals. In further contrast to VT, this term is more so used to capture the immediate transmission of a traumatic stress response (e.g., learning of the sudden death of a loved one) as opposed to the more incremental effects of trauma on a professional from the cumulative toll of their work.