trauma

By Ellie Izzo, PhD & Vicki Carpel Miller, BSN, MS, LMFT

Daniel, a family lawyer, was referred to us for treatment by his primary care physician, following an annual physical. He had met with his doctor due to multiple physical annoyances which included chronic headaches and digestive problems. When his doctor found nothing medically wrong, he suggested that Daniel might be experiencing physical symptoms due to psychological stress and referred him to us.

Daniel presented as a man sophisticated in many dimensions. He was well dressed, well spoken, confident, calm and charming and really didn’t understand why he was referred for a Vicarious Trauma consultation. Daniel’s success as a family lawyer had its benefits and its disadvantages. While he was very conscious of all the benefits he had enjoyed from a thriving practice, he was less conscious of how the stress in his work affected his health. After some interaction with him about the definition of Vicarious Trauma and after asking him the assessment questions, he experienced an “aha” moment. He was visibly concerned with how he had unwittingly been traumatized through the nature of his work.