Vicarious Trauma.

[Ggreen 12]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/06/milit...hood/index.html

(CNN) -- They listen to tales of life's worst moments, but they can't go home and tell their spouses about what they've heard. Sometimes no amount of schooling is enough to shield them from taking on some of their patients' suffering.

Those who counsel trauma victims -- whether they be psychiatrists, social workers or advocates -- can experience an emotional toll after intensive exposure to patients' stories of horror. Experts call this phenomenon "vicarious trauma."

The impact of trauma on those who help the traumatized has become a subject of discussion as investigators try to piece together why Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist at Darnall Army Medical Center, allegedly opened fire at a military processing center Thursday at Fort Hood Army Post in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others...

[alienlovechild 75]

Second hand trauma is like second hand smoke?

[GabiandVi 34]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/06/milit...hood/index.html

(CNN) -- They listen to tales of life's worst moments, but they can't go home and tell their spouses about what they've heard. Sometimes no amount of schooling is enough to shield them from taking on some of their patients' suffering.

Those who counsel trauma victims -- whether they be psychiatrists, social workers or advocates -- can experience an emotional toll after intensive exposure to patients' stories of horror. Experts call this phenomenon "vicarious trauma."

The impact of trauma on those who help the traumatized has become a subject of discussion as investigators try to piece together why Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist at Darnall Army Medical Center, allegedly opened fire at a military processing center Thursday at Fort Hood Army Post in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others...

This sounds like an actual "hazard" of the job to me, though I think people who choose these sorts of professions can either compartmentalize or they burn out and leave the profession.

Regardless, I don't think it has anything to do with this case. This guy is a mass murderer. I think it is insulting to psychiatrists and social workers to suggest that this is a possible reaction to what they face. This is not a possible reaction to anything. This is homocide.