{"id":32260,"date":"2016-06-30T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T15:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=32260"},"modified":"2016-07-06T08:30:30","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T15:30:30","slug":"transforming-vicarious-trauma-in-the-lgbtq-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/transforming-vicarious-trauma-in-lgbtq-community-0630165","title":{"rendered":"Transforming Vicarious Trauma in the LGBTQ+ Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RearDespite some recent legal changes to protect the civil rights of LGBTQ+<\/a> people in some states, we continue to be the most common targets of hate crimes in the U.S. (Park and Mykhyalyshyn, 2016). No such crime has resonated\u00a0in the public consciousness like the one that took place in the early hours of June 12, 2016 at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where 49 people were killed and 50 others injured by a lone gunman in \u201cthe deadliest attack on the LGBT community in U.S. history\u201d (Ravitz, 2016).<\/p>\n

The incident created a ripple effect of grief<\/a>, fear<\/a>, anger<\/a>, and unity\u00a0among those directly and indirectly affected by it. Through the bonds of shared trials and tribulations that come with being a marginalized group, the LGBTQ+ community provides vital safety and connection\u2014a \u201cfamily of choice,\u201d if you will\u2014for those who may not be accepted even within their families of origin<\/a>. Because this connection is so deeply rooted, it only makes sense that the Orlando tragedy devastated and traumatized<\/a> the whole of our community.<\/p>\n

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Research has demonstrated that acts of terrorism erode \u201cthe sense of security and safety people usually feel\u201d (Hamblen and Sloane, 2016). But what about people who weren\u2019t accustomed to feeling safety and security in the first place? Even those of us in the LGBTQ+ community who have been able to legally marry our partners face conscious and unconscious threats and concerns on a daily basis: disclosing LGBTQ+ identity to coworkers\/employers, choosing certain clothing options to avoid detection of our identity<\/a>, researching how our community is treated in a given location before planning a trip, making split-second calculations as to whether it is safe to show even minimal forms of public affection. It is our complex set of collective experiences that places us at risk for having our previous experiences of aggression<\/a> and microaggression<\/a> triggered by an act of violence like the one in Orlando.<\/p>\n

Guarding Against Secondary Trauma<\/h2>\n

Those of us in the helping professions have been trained to guard ourselves against vicarious trauma. This type of secondary trauma is the \u201cemotional residue of exposure that counselors have from working with people as they are hearing their trauma stories and become witnesses to the pain, fear, and terror that trauma survivors have endured\u201d (American Counseling Association, 2011). However, secondary trauma is a concern for anyone, not just mental health professionals. According to a 2015 study, individuals viewing traumatic events through various forms of media are susceptible to trauma-related symptoms despite having no direct connection or experience of the traumatic event (British Psychological Society, 2015).<\/p>\n

So what can we do to cope in the aftermath of Orlando? First, it\u2019s a good idea to check in with loved ones and ourselves and notice if there have been changes to daily routines (such as eating and sleeping) and functioning (concentration, racing thoughts or worries, increased startle responses, etc.). If there have been changes, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2015) recommends the following self-care<\/a> approaches:<\/p>\n