Beyond secondary trauma: A systematic review of shared trauma research in the U.S.

ABSTRACT

Along with the focus on trauma in various fields and curriculums in recent years, the emergence of literature on shared trauma – the affective, behavioral, cognitive, spiritual, and multimodal responses that mental health professionals experience as a result of primary and secondary exposure to the same collective trauma as their clients – has solidified in the last two decades. As most current literature exists outside of the United States, there is a need to understand if the experience of shared trauma is unique inside the US. This systematic review focuses on the various methods employed in 12 studies within the US further comparing experiences in COVID-19 versus shared trauma experiences as a result of other collective traumas. While past trauma as well as being more closely exposed to the trauma of victims were both predictive of one’s own trauma symptoms, posttraumatic growth, and stronger therapeutic alliances were also benefits of shared trauma experiences. Past trauma, smaller case sizes, and training are found to be associated with shared trauma in this review. The importance of exploring shared trauma to prevent and respond effectively in these cases is discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Collective trauma
• secondary trauma
• shared trauma
• shared traumatic reality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.