Secondary Traumatic Stress
Definition
Psychological distress in responders resulting from exposure to others' trauma and death at mass-casualty events. Includes intrusive images, emotional numbing, hypervigilance, and burnout, and requires active peer-support and psychological first-aid interventions.
- Field
- Disaster response and DVI psychology
- Symptoms
- Intrusive images, numbing, hypervigilance, burnout
- Mitigation
- Peer support and psychological first aid
- At risk
- Responders in sustained contact with remains
Common questions
How does secondary traumatic stress differ from PTSD in primary victims?+
It arises from indirect exposure, hearing about, witnessing, or handling evidence of others' trauma such as identifying bodies at a mass-casualty event, rather than from directly experiencing a life-threatening event oneself, though symptoms can closely resemble PTSD.
Who is most at risk of secondary traumatic stress in a DVI response?+
Responders in sustained, close contact with human remains and grieving families, such as mortuary and identification staff, forensic nurses, and body handlers, particularly during prolonged or high-fatality deployments.
What interventions reduce secondary traumatic stress risk during a deployment?+
Structured rotation off high-exposure tasks, mandatory rest breaks, pre- and post-deployment briefings, peer-support networks, and access to psychological first aid or professional counselling during and after the response.
Related terms
- Ante-Mortem (AM) Data
- Information gathered from family members, medical providers, or records about the appearance, health history, dental treatment, and fingerprints of a person before...
- Disaster Victim Identification (DVI)
- The systematic process of identifying the deceased after a mass-casualty event using the INTERPOL DVI form sets, which standardise ante-mortem and post-mortem...
- Family Liaison Officer (FLO)
- A dedicated contact point between the investigation and the bereaved family, responsible for two-way information flow: collecting AM data from the family...
- Mass-Casualty Incident (MCI)
- An event that produces more casualties than available resources can immediately manage, requiring special coordination between emergency services, hospitals, morgues, and victim-identification...
- Post-Mortem (PM) Data
- Information collected from a recovered body or body fragment : physical description, dental examination, fingerprints, DNA profile, personal effects : used in...