Interventions for the management of vicarious trauma among mental health professionals during COVID-19

Abstract

‘Caring comes with a cost’ is a phrase often used to describethe state of helping professionals. Experiences of vicarioustrauma are commonly seen in various helping professionals,such as doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers,lawyers, police, teachers, and public health workers, amongmany other helping professions. Vicarious trauma, alsoknown as secondary trauma, by definition, is described asindirect exposure to a traumatic event through a first-handaccount or narrative of that event. The outbreak of COVID19 impacted the psychological and emotional well-being ofthe global community as a whole; apart from the fatal risk itposed to the physical health of many, it has impacted mentalhealth professionals working in the frontline adversely. Theyare exposing themselves to people experiencing trauma,which impacts their emotional and mental health. Thiscommentary focuses on the experience of vicarious traumaamong mental health professionals and discusses targetedinterventions to manage the traumatic experiences andimplications for research and practice.