Transforming the Pain
Transforming the Pain
A Workbook On Vicarious Traumatization
About the Book
In your profession, do you help or work with people who have been traumatized? Do you listen to stories of abuse, suffering, or trauma from your clients every day? If so, you know it is important to hear and bear witness to trauma survivors’ experiences and not be changed. You know firsthand the personal cost of the work you do and the struggle to make sense of powerful, often painful, feelings and altered beliefs.
This transformation of a helper’s inner experience is called vicarious traumatization (VT); it is an inescapable effect of trauma work. Transforming the Pain provides tools for self-assessment, guidelines and activities for addressing vicarious traumatization, and exercises to use with groups of helpers.
About the Authors
Dr. Laurie Anne Pearlman is a clinical psychologist and independent trauma consultant based in Sarasota, Florida. She is a Fellow of the Trauma Division of the American Psychological Association (APA) and of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. She co-founded and served as first president of the Trauma Research, Education, and Training Institute. She consulted to the Headington Institute in Pasadena, California, for 11 years. She also co-founded, co-directed and served for 20 years as research director of the former Traumatic Stress Institute/Center for Adult & Adolescent Psychotherapy.
Dr. Karen Winslow Saakvitne is a psychologist, member of the American Psychological Association, and member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
