Trauma

Many lawyers with a history of childhood trauma enter the profession, unconsciously seeking to heal by helping others similarly situated. While a noble aim, it dramatically increases risk for PTSD, anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder.

Many practice areas are saturated with trauma, putting everyone (judges, lawyers, support staff) at risk for compassion fatigue, burnout, and vicarious or secondary trauma regardless of personal history. The symptoms of prolonged stress disorder and secondary trauma mirror those of PTSD, whereby practitioners who have no history of personal trauma begin to display similar symptoms to trauma survivors. Symptoms can include anxiety, hypervigilance, dysregulated emotional states, over-reacting, isolation, intrusive thoughts/flashbacks to cases, and feelings of dread or imminent harm.

While many of us are exposed to the traumatic experiences of our clients, we don’t often think in terms of experiencing trauma first-hand, personally or professionally. We like to think it would never happen to us, that it could never happen to us. But trauma does not discriminate. A traumatic experience can happen to anyone, anywhere, and for reasons that make no sense at all. A traumatic experience is an extraordinary and stressful event that shatters one’s sense of safety and security. These events often involve situations that potentially place our life or the lives of others at risk.