Moryosef Shir-Ly, Taubman-Ben-Ari Orit
The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Clin Psychol Psychother. 2025 May-Jun;32(3):e70084. doi: 10.1002/cpp.70084.
Military mental health officers (MHOs) often encounter soldiers who express distress through threats or attempts of self-injury or suicide. Research shows that working with such cases is highly stressful and can be traumatic for therapists, potentially leading to secondary traumatization (ST)-a condition that affects both personal well-being and professional performance. This study explores how event centrality, rumination, and self-compassion influence the development of ST in MHOs exposed to self-injurious behaviour in their patients. We hypothesized that higher exposure to self-harm would be associated with greater ST, especially when MHOs perceive these experiences as highly central to their lives. Additionally, we hypothesized that self-compassion would have a protective effect, reducing ST.
The study involved 130 MHOs (social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists) serving in the Israeli army, representing roughly half of all such professionals. Participants completed self-report questionnaires.
No significant association was found between exposure to self-harm and ST. However, a curvilinear relationship (where the effect rises at moderate levels but decreases at higher levels) also emerged, with moderate exposure linked to the highest levels of ST. Notably, this curvilinear effect was observed only among MHOs with high self-compassion, whereas those with lower self-compassion did not show the same pattern.
This study enhances our understanding of how therapists respond to the challenges of self-injury and suicide in their patients. It highlights the complex role of exposure and self-compassion in ST, suggesting that fostering self-compassion in MHOs could be key to developing effective stress-reduction programs.
军事心理健康官员（MHOs）经常遇到通过威胁或自我伤害或自杀企图来表达痛苦的士兵。研究表明，处理这类案例压力极大，对治疗师来说可能造成创伤，有可能导致继发性创伤（ST）——一种影响个人幸福和职业表现的状况。本研究探讨事件中心性、沉思和自我同情如何影响接触到患者自我伤害行为的MHOs发生ST的情况。我们假设，更多地接触自我伤害会与更严重的ST相关，尤其是当MHOs认为这些经历对他们的生活至关重要时。此外，我们假设自我同情会起到保护作用，减少ST。
该研究涉及130名在以色列军队服役的MHOs（社会工作者、心理学家和精神科医生），约占所有此类专业人员的一半。参与者完成了自我报告问卷。
在接触自我伤害与ST之间未发现显著关联。然而，还出现了一种曲线关系（效应在中等水平上升，但在较高水平下降），中等程度的接触与最高水平的ST相关。值得注意的是，这种曲线效应仅在具有高度自我同情的MHOs中观察到，而自我同情较低的MHOs则未表现出相同的模式。
本研究增进了我们对治疗师如何应对患者自我伤害和自杀挑战的理解。它突出了接触和自我同情在ST中的复杂作用，表明培养MHOs的自我同情可能是制定有效减压方案的关键。
