Other Victims of 9/11: Therapists, Social Workers

Social workers who counseled large numbers of patients traumatized by the September 11 attacks in New York appear to be at risk of developing the same nightmares and flashbacks as their patients, a new study reports.

Social workers who counseled large numbers of patients traumatized by the September 11 attacks in New York appear to be at risk of developing the same nightmares and flashbacks as their patients, a new study reports. Study author Dr. Joseph A. Boscarino explained that this phenomenon, known as secondary trauma, likely results when therapists or social workers hear descriptions of traumatic events from patients, then picture those events and become traumatized themselves. “As a therapist, you can be at risk from treating these people,” he said. However, he noted that social workers who said they had a supportive work environment — meaning, for instance, that their boss was sensitive to their needs, or they received a lot of time off to de-stress — appeared to be protected from secondary trauma. For social workers and other therapists who have already developed secondary trauma, “there’s every reason to believe they should have counseling themselves,” Boscarino noted. “Just like a victim who directly experienced (the trauma).” In an interview, Boscarino, who is based at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York City, explained that previous research has shown that spouses and therapists of Vietnam veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder often develop the same disorder themselves. To investigate whether this phenomenon occurred among social workers who offered their services during the September 11, 2001 attacks, Boscarino and his colleagues mailed questionnaires in May, 2003, to 600 social workers who had addresses in New York City.> Overall, 236 social workers returned the questionnaires. More than 80 percent said they counseled people during the days following the attacks. The investigators found that the more social workers had involved themselves in the recovery from the attacks, the more likely they were to have developed secondary trauma However, the more social workers rated their work environment as being supportive, the less likely they were to develop secondary trauma. These findings, reported in the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, reinforce the importance of creating a good work environment for people exposed to traumatized patients on a regular basis, Boscarino noted. He added that although the September 11 attacks were a unique event, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists who regularly counsel abused women, for instance, may also be at risk of secondary trauma. “This could be an occupational hazard that needs to be looked at,” he said. (SOURCE: International Journal of Emergency Mental Health: Reuters Health News: July 2004.)