261 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Hamburger et al. (eds.), Social Trauma – An Interdisciplinary Textbook,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47817-9_27
Chapter 27
Secondary Traumatization
Marko Živanović and Maša Vukčević Marković
27.1 Introduction
Circumstances involving post-war and forced migration context put helping profes-
sionals at increased risk for secondary traumatization. There are several theoretical
constructs trying to explain complex effects which can happen to persons working
with traumatized individuals (Vukčević Marković & Živanović, 2019). One of the
most frequently used, secondary traumatization (ST), refers to a condition that can
result from being engaged in work that includes direct exposure to those suffering
from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and their traumatic experiences (Figley,
1995). Therefore, ST has been mainly explored among social workers, trauma
counselors, psychologists, health workers, etc., that is, those being directly exposed
to the traumatic content/s of others. ST is a condition that mimics PTSD-related
diffculties whose effects are shown to be deleterious for the physical and mental
health and well-being of service providers, directly or indirectly affecting their per-
sonal and professional life. Namely, accumulation of secondary exposure to trau-
matic content/s and its inadequate processing can leave a wider psychological
impact leading to increasing of general depression- and anxiety-related symptom-
atology (Živanović & Vukčević Marković, submitted), and lower overall quality of
life (Vukčević Marković & Živanović, 2019).
Due to conceptual similarities between ST and PTSD, predominant model of ST
relies on DSM-based PTSD criteria and includes components of exposure to trau-
matic content as well as its symptomatology (Elwood, Mott, Lohr, & Galovski,
2011; Živanović & Vukčević Marković, 2009). The ffth edition of DSM (APA,
2013) included “experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of
M. Živanović (*) · M. V. Marković
Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Psychosocial Innovation Network, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
e-mail: marko.zivanovic@f.bg.ac.rs; masa.vukcevic@f.bg.ac.rs