Development of the Vicarious Resilience Scale (VRS): A measure of positive effects of working with trauma survivors.

OBJECTIVE: Attending to the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of clinical work with trauma survivors on professionals themselves is a crucial aspect of clinical training and supervision. Vicarious resilience refers to unique, positive effects that transform therapists in response to witnessing trauma survivors' resilience and recovery process. This study describes the development and exploratory factor analysis of the first instrument to assess vicarious resilience. METHOD: The Vicarious Resilience Scale (VRS) was developed and administered via electronic survey to 190 helping professionals from around the globe working with survivors of severe traumas, such as torture. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis yielded 7 factors: Changes in life goals and perspective, client-inspired hope, increased recognition of clients' spirituality as a therapeutic resource, increased capacity for resourcefulness, increased self-awareness and self-care practices, increased consciousness about power and privilege relative to clients' social location, and increased capacity for remaining present while listening to trauma narratives. The Cronbach's alpha reliability of the VRS was .92 and, as hypothesized, the VRS was moderately and positively correlated with posttraumatic growth and compassion satisfaction, indicating convergent validity. The VRS was not significantly correlated with compassion fatigue (CF) or burnout, indicating discriminant validity and that vicarious resilience is a unique construct that is not merely "the opposite" of CF or burnout. CONCLUSION: The VRS possesses sound psychometric properties and can be utilized in supervision and training contexts and for self-assessment by professionals working with trauma survivors to aid the recognition and cultivation of vicarious resilience. (PsycINFO Database Record

Vicarious resilience: Complexities and variations.

This article presents results from a qualitative study further exploring the concept of vicarious resilience. Thirteen therapists working with survivors of torture in 3 different locations were interviewed to better understand the complexities and variations of vicarious resilience. The analysis focuses on the therapists' perception of clients' resilience and the therapists' awareness of how this affects the therapists themselves. Four major themes emerge: change in the therapists' self-perception and their general outlook on the world, altered spirituality, modified thoughts about self-care, and new views on trauma work and connecting with clients. The results suggest that vicarious resilience can significantly influence therapists' personal lives as well as their therapeutic work. Therapists employing a strengths-based approach seem to be affected more by vicarious resilience. The results are situated within the growing body of literature that documents the positive effect of trauma work on therapists. The development of training curricula for strengthening therapists' awareness of vicarious resilience is recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record

Psychological evaluation of asylum seekers as a therapeutic process.

Torture survivors are often reluctant to tell their stories. They typically make every effort to forget this painful, traumatic experience. Often they do not share with family, friends or healthcare professionals the fact that they have been beaten, raped or subjected to electrical shocks and other terrors. Talking means retrieving memories, triggering the feelings and emotions that accompanied the torture itself. Furthermore, refugee torture survivors feel that people won't understand or believe their experiences. However, survivors who escape their country may need to reveal their torture experience as they apply for asylum in the host country. When they prepare for the asylum process, it may well be the first time that they talk about the torture. Mental health professionals are often called upon to evaluate survivors and prepare affidavits for the asylum process, documenting the effects of torture. This creates a unique and priviliged opportunity to help survivors to address the devastating consequences of torture. Winning asylum is essential to recovery for a torture survivor in a country of refuge. Psychological evaluations of the consequences of torture can present information and evidence to asylum adjudicators which significantly increases understanding of the survivors' background and experiences as well as their manner of self-presentation in the courtroom or interview. They can empower the torture survivor to present his/her experiences more fully and confidently. Even apart from winning asylum, the process of the evaluation has many potential benefits for the survivor's emotional well-being. This includes helping the survivor understand the necessity of telling the story, illuminating the often poorly perceived link between current emotional suffering and past torture, facilitating the development of cognitive and emotional control, and healing the wounds of mistrust, humiliation, marginalization and fear.

Vicarious resilience: a new concept in work with those who survive trauma.

This study explores the formulation of a new concept: vicarious resilience. It addresses the question of how psychotherapists who work with survivors of political violence or kidnapping are affected by their clients'stories of resilience. It focuses on the psychotherapists' interpretations of their clients' stories, and how they make sense of the impact that these stories have had on their lives. In semistructured interviews, 12 psychotherapists who work with victims of political violence and kidnapping were interviewed about their perceptions of their clients' overcoming of adversity. A phenomenological analysis of the transcripts was used to describe the themes that speak about the effects of witnessing how clients cope constructively with adversity. These themes are discussed to advance the concept of vicarious resilience and how it can contribute to sustaining and empowering trauma therapists.