March 5th, 2015

When one is witness to trauma through listening to another’s traumatic experience, emotional reactions of confusion and turmoil can be evoked. This is otherwise known as secondary trauma. Secondary trauma is referred to a range of potential reactions one can have when engaged in assisting someone who is traumatized by an experience. Clinicians need to gauge what are healthy and normal responses when hearing another person’s trauma and what is considered as “compassion fatigue” or “secondary traumatic stress” or “vicarious traumatization” or “secondary traumatic stress disorder or countertransference. When exposed to this type of trauma, people need to identify and deal with their own emotional reactions and how this relates to their own experiences. As well as modulate their feelings and organize their thinking (Geller, Madsen, & Ohrenstein, 2004).
The capacity to empathize, to feel with another person is the focal point of psychotherapy (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). That being the case, clinicians need to learn how to think clearly, modulate their emotions, feel effective when working with clients and maintain help that they are going to be effective. But, if the clinician is put into these states of stress by virtue of listening to others, they may feel inclined to withdraw from their clients (Geller et. al, 2004).
When creating a psychotherapeutic relationship between a therapist and a client one approach that is considered as compatible with our theories and clinical foundations is that of the mindfulness based approach. According to Germer (2005), there are two general approaches that clinicians have applied in their clinical work. That of being mindful in psychotherapy and mindfulness – based psychotherapy (Turner, 2008). These two approaches have been shown to be effective and beneficial when in a therapeutic environment. Through the mindfulness approach, clinicians can learn how to have more attention, affect regulations, attunement to their clients, and empathy (Turner, 2009). This technique can be used with both the clinician as well as the client. Clinicians can use gentle yoga movements and meditation to heighten their client’s awareness of any physical sensations they may feel. The clinician is then able to guide the client using verbal cues to maintain attention on their movement, their breathing, and their feelings through different exercises. Walking and sitting exercises are the most common tolls that are used in the mindfulness based approach. Eventually, clients will be encouraged to practice these mindfulness techniques in their daily life, thus taking the therapeutic process outside of the client – clinician confines. The client is able to observe, explore and experience mindfulness in a non – clinical environment. The clinician and client then evaluate and examine the experiences and obstacles the client faced during their daily life and how their thoughts and behaviors were modified utilizing these techniques (Greason & Cashwell, 2009).
The term “mindfulness” is referred to as a state of awareness. It is the ability to be aware of one’s experience without judgment. It is a state in which a person self – regulates their thought processes, and trains themselves to be attentive and aware while fostering a general mental well – being. This allows someone to remain calm, clear and able to concentrate while not getting distracted (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006).
There are many benefits to being in the state of “mindfulness. According to Davis and Hayes (2011) there are many benefits from being more mindful. It helps reduce rumination. People have been found to be able to sustain attention during a performance task better than those who are not in this state (Chambers, 2008). It helps reduce stress. It increases positive affect and decrease anxiety and negative thoughts. When one experiences mindfulness – based stress reduction, there have been studies that show a significant decrease in anxiety, depression and somatic distress. This also states that they had less reactivity when exposed to traumatic visual or verbal experiences (Farb, 2010).
The mindfulness based approach also helps with focus. When using this technique a person’s ability to focus their attention and suppress distraction is more significant. People are less emotionally reactive. The practice of meditation has helped people disengage from an emotionally upsetting situation and it enables them to focus better on a cognitive task. People will have more cognitive flexibility. People are better able to develop the skill of self – observation. Present – moment input is capable of being integrated with prior learning when one can step back. When one is negatively provoked, utilizing this skill they can recover faster and think clearer. Another benefit is that it helps with relationships. One has a better chance at responding well to relationship stress and communicating one’s emotions to their partner when they can think clearer. In turn they can resolve conflict and reduce their stress (Davis & Hayes, 2011). Other benefits of mindfulness are the enhancement of self – insight, morality, intuition, and fear modulation.
When assessing this approach and understanding its implications in my own practice I value how vital having this skill is. I understand that other peoples stress does and can impact me and how I handle and cope is crucial when working with clients. The benefits of a therapist having these skills are that it promotes empathy, compassion, more attentive, more comfortable with silence, and more attuned to myself and my “clients. My question when working on this paper stems from

References
Chambers, R., Lo, B. C. Y., & Allen, N. B. (2008). The impact of intensive mindfulness training on attentional control, cognitive style, and affect. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32(3), 303-322.
Davis, D. M., & Hayes, J. A. (2011). What are the benefits of mindfulness? A practice review of psychotherapy-related research. Psychotherapy, 48(2), 198.
Geller, J. A., Madsen, L. H., & Ohrenstein, L. (2004). Secondary trauma: A team approach. Clinical Social Work Journal, 32(4), 415-430.
Greason, P. B., & Cashwell, C. S. (2009). Mindfulness and counseling self‐efficacy: The mediating role of attention and empathy. Counselor Education and Supervision, 49(1), 2-19.
Farb, N. A., Anderson, A. K., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., & Segal, Z. V. (2010). Minding one’s emotions: mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness. Emotion, 10(1), 25.
Turner, K. (2009). Mindfulness: The present moment in clinical social work.Clinical Social Work Journal, 37(2), 95-103.
Walsh, R., & Shapiro, S. L. (2006). The meeting of meditative disciplines and Western psychology: a mutually enriching dialogue. American Psychologist,61(3), 227.