vicarious trauma

Trauma that is delivered vicariously by the media (TV, film, books, newspapers, the Net,etc) and leaves the world in a constant state of shock, which leads to a tendency towards illness and a lot of over-eating. As we do not experience events dirctly, it is devilishly hard to expunge the horror.

We've all experienced the vicarious trauma of the Tsunami, of war, of tragedies depicted vividly by reporters.

vicarious trauma by damema August 16, 2006

vicariously traumatized

When you didn’t go through a trauma but someone close to you did, so you are traumatized because they trauma dumped on you.

This relates to trauma being a factor of shock or unexpected outcomes, when things are not seen coming, they take more tact to adapt to.

This may or may not relate to people being in narcissistic states after going through a traumatic event initially.

See example:

Prom is a trap! I heard about Cindy getting dumped after giving up her v-card so I’ll be waiting until marriage, I’m vicariously traumatized!

vicariously traumatized by anonymous December 6, 2025

vicariously traumatized

When you didn’t go through a traumatic event first hand, but someone close to you did and they trauma dumped on you, so now you’re in fear of the same thing happening to you.

This relates to how unexpected outcomes require more tact to recover from than outcomes we prepare for.

This may or may not be related to the narcissist nature the brain is left in from an initial traumatic event- sort of like a ripple impact of trauma until one transmutes the cycle

Prom is a trap! Ever since I heard Cindy got dumped after giving up her v-card I’ll be waiting until marriage, I'm vicariously traumatized!

vicariously traumatized by sound recollection December 6, 2025