Therapist experience and the stresses of psychotherapeutic work.

Therapeutic implications of counselling psychologists’ responses to client trauma: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

“…Neumann and Gamble (1995) describe Pearlman and McCann's (unpublished) survey of nearly 200 trauma therapists, which found that newer therapists reported more intrusive imagery from the work as well as more anxiety, depression and physical symptoms than did therapists with greater experience. This is consistent with research into the professional development of therapists, indicating that psychological distress is higher for therapists who are less experienced (Adams & Riggs, 2008;Hellman, Morrison, & Abramowitz, 1987;Rodolfa, Kraft, & Reilley, 1988).…”

“…This is consistent with research into the professional development of therapists, indicating that psychological distress decreases as therapists become more experienced (Adams and Riggs, 2008;Hellman et al, 1987;Rodolfa et al, 1988). Participants conveyed that through their work with trauma survivors, they had reached a position of acceptance in relation to traumatic occurrences.…”

Stress and coping in the practice of family therapy: a British survey

“…The results also suggest that the stresses that originate within teamwork and client contact are less problematic for family therapists, although they remain important. Interestingly, stress surveys of individual therapists have found client variables to be the most stressful for therapists (Hellman et al, 1986). We wonder if the practice of teamwork is a useful coping strategy.…”

“…Several family therapists have made general comments about the effects that practising family therapy may have upon the therapist (Charny, 1981;Kaslow and Schulman, 1987;Piercy and Wetschler, 1987) and there have been comments on the effects that family therapy training has upon trainees (Polson and Piercy, 1993), but there has been no empirical study of note investigating stress and family therapists. In contrast there is a growing body of research considering the stresses of working in the 'caring' professions (Bennett et al, 1993;Brady et al, 1995;Gibson el al., 1989;Ouston, 1990;Payne and Firth-Cozens, 1987) and in the experience of stress (Deutsch, 1984;Heifetz, 1981, 1982;Hellman et al, 1986;Hellman and Morrison, 1987). The investigation reported here has been designed specifically to explore family therapists' experience of stressors and their responses.…”

Vicarious Trauma in Mental Health Professionals Following the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

“…Project Liberty, launched after 9/11, was the largest federal mental health response to a disaster in US history [39]. Based on the experience of the clinicians in Project Liberty who provided mental health services for three years, and on research evidence that mental health professionals may reduce their risk of VT by obtaining additional training and education related to traumatology [40], the federal government has included predeployment training on burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious traumatization [41][42][43][44][45][46] for all federal disaster crisis counseling programs. Modern disaster management that has emerged post-9/11 has renewed attention to the safety and wellness of disaster responders, including mental health providers.…”