Personal and vicarious traumatization and trauma-related symptoms: Exploring the moderating role of mentalization

Years of trauma research revealed that consequences of traumatic events are dependent on many factors. Regardless of its severity or age of onset, traumatic events may lead to mental health problems. The most challenging aspect of traumatic experiences is often found to be the difficulty in comprehending these events and integrating them meaningfully within one's life narrative. Thereby, it is hypothesized that one's ability to reflect upon their inner and outer experiences, i.e., one's capacity to mentalize, could mitigate the negative effects of trauma on individuals. Accordingly, this study examined the relationship between personal or vicarious traumatic experiences of adults working with traumatized individuals and their posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Whether or not mentalization capacity moderated these relationships were investigated. For this purpose, information about experienced personal and vicarious trauma (using the Cumulative Trauma Scale-Short Form), PTSS (using Impact of Event Scale-Revised) and mentalization capacity (using the Mentalization Scale) were collected from 130 participants who were primarily psychologists and social workers. While the results supported the negative relationship between personal trauma and PTSS, no significant relationship was found between vicarious trauma and PTSS. Mentalization did not have a moderating effect, although individuals with more motivation to mentalize were found to be less affected by trauma compared to individuals with less motivation. Lastly, ongoing therapy and supervision were protective factors in this relationship. The meaning of these findings is discussed in the context of Turkey, where traumatic life events are frequently experienced, and regarding the importance of mentalization-based therapeutic interventions.