Who coined 'vicarious trauma'?

• A. Herbert Freudenberger
• B. Pearlman & McKay
• C. Sigmund Freud
• D. Carl Jung

Answer: (B)

Vicarious trauma centers on how regularly hearing others’ traumatic stories can alter a helper’s own beliefs, feelings, and sense of safety in the world. The term was first coined by Pearlman and McCann to describe how therapists and other trauma workers can undergo a deep, lasting transformation in their inner world due to this repeated empathetic exposure. They showed that the impact goes beyond fatigue or stress at work; it involves changes in core assumptions about people, safety, and meaning, as a result of engaging with clients’ trauma narratives.

This attribution is distinct from burnout, which Freudenberger described as a broader work-related exhaustion and cynicism without necessarily shifting one’s fundamental worldview. Freud and Jung contributed foundational psychoanalytic ideas but did not introduce the term.