Therapy for Medical Students & Healthcare Workers
Being a medical student is incredibly challenging. The academic demands and professional training can be overwhelming, leading to feelings of sadness, stress, and exhaustion. Despite your hard work and dream of becoming a doctor, there may be times when you feel lonely and disconnected, questioning your place in the medical field. You might wonder what kind of doctor you can be if you're already exhausted. These feelings may be difficult to share due to a sense of shame or the belief that your focus should only be on helping others. This pressure to keep going can create barriers to seeking support. You might also find yourself in a survival mindset, unaware of the toll that stress and pressure are taking on your well-being.
What is Vicarious traumatization?
Being in the position of a medical resident, treating others, witnessing patients suffering, and seeing some patients not getting better and dying, may cause you to experience vicarious traumatization. Vicarious traumatization is a fancy term. Vicarious trauma is like secondhand smoke. If you are not smoking yourself but around people who smoke, your health will be impacted. You might not experience symptoms of what your patients are going through, but you might feel mixed feelings of anger and sadness in response to what your patients are going through. You might find yourself experiencing survival guilt that you are not going through what your patients are. You might find yourself thinking about your patients over and over again when your workday is over.
