Soul Pain: The Hidden Toll of Working With Survivors of Physical and Sexual Violence

摘要

This study extends prior research on vicarious traumatization and emotion management by exploring a deeper, more life-altering effect of working with traumatized clientsa??namely, a??soul pain.a?? Analyses of in-depth interviews with 29 advocates working with survivors of physical and sexual violence reveal that, as a direct consequence of hearing countless stories of human brutality, some staff members experience a profound wounding of their spirit. This finding expands our understanding of the occupational hazards of the helping professions by revealing another dimension of advocatesa?? livesa??that of the soul or spirita??that may be affected by their work with trauma survivors.