Vicarious resilience from attachment trauma: reflections of long-term therapy with marginalized young people

Abstract

The concept of vicarious resilience captures the therapist's emotional growth occurring as a direct result of therapeutic engagement with traumatized clients. Three chronological case scenarios are presented for exploration of vicarious resilience in relation to attachment trauma. The purpose is to increase awareness and appreciation of the positive functions it serves for client mentalization, therapist skill and resilience factors for both parties. The reflective methodology considers the intrapsychic worlds of the client and the therapist and details how the therapist comes to experience the client's distressing projections. The potential for vicarious resilience begins from the outset of the therapist's actions of containment upon these projections. Advancing early ideas, it is advocated that vicarious resilience requires the therapist to have both the capacity and willingness to maintain a constant reflective stance.