Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder

Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder (STSD) refers to the development of PTSD-like symptoms in individuals who are indirectly exposed to trauma, typically through close contact with people who have directly experienced traumatic events. STSD primarily affects helping professionals such as therapists, nurses, physicians, first responders, social workers, and others who regularly engage with individuals reporting trauma. It is also known as vicarious trauma or secondary traumatic stress, though these terms are sometimes used with nuanced distinctions in the literature. According to DSM-IV, PTSD could not be diagnosed in emergency services personnel, as they were not directly exposed to the risk of death, e.g. in a road accident, in such cases STSD was diagnosed.

Source: Figley, C. R. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. New York: Brunner/Mazel.