Vicarious Trauma. Essay -- Health, Diseases

The purpose of this paper is to examine the federal, state, and/or local legislation or policies that have been enacted or created to address/ change vicarious trauma. Although posttraumatic stress theory has been extensively developed in the psychological and medical literature in the last decade, development of vicarious trauma theory or what the literature refers to as secondary traumatization is in its infancy. To date, there is minimal information on policies or legislation that helps address this issue. The occupational health, safety and welfare Policy and the Critical incident Debriefing Policy are two federal policies that address the prevention of vicarious trauma. Research suggests that vicarious trauma is an â€Å"occupational hazard, which is an unavoidable result of undertaking working with survivors of trauma† (Perlman and Saakvitne, 1995). The Occupational health and safety act (OSHA) was introduced by congress in the early 1960’s to protect workers from being exposed to chemicals and life threatening working conditions. With the passing of the act in 1971 congress declared its intent "to ensure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation a safe and healthy working conditions and to preserve our human resources†( Muss,1993 p. 39). With the growing number of work place stressors and the decline in work place performance, this has a great impact on the organizations revenue. Congress demanded change, therefore in 1986 , the Occupatio nal Health and Safety Act was revised to include section nineteen. Section nineteen of ( OHSA) requires â€Å" that all employers provide a safe working environment and this applies to all areas including the employee’s mental health and well being†(Occupational Health, S... ...porate debriefing and self-care techniques to address and alleviate the impact of vicarious trauma. After researching policies and the law as it relates to vicarious trauma. I have concluded that there is a substantial need for further research .There is also a growing consensus that there is a need to address the immediate needs of those exposed to trauma –the need for safety, restoration and connection to social support before addressing the trauma itself. There also is large amounts of research the identifies and defines the cause of vicarious trauma. However, concerning treatment there is little not any research. The consistent them for the prevention of vicarious trauma is self-care and the devolvement of positive coping skills. However, there needs to be a structured set of universal guidelines that can be referenced across the board to address this issue.