Psychological well-being in therapists who are members of the UK Complex Trauma Institute
Updated: 3 days ago
Research Article · Open Access
Alison Kelly-Delaney¹, Dzmitry Karpuk² and Jonathan Egan³
¹ Independent Clinical Practice, United Kingdom² Complex Trauma Institute, United Kingdom³ Independent Researcher, Ireland
Corresponding author: Alison Kelly-Delaney, alisonekd@hotmail.com
Perspectives on Complex Trauma, Volume 6, Issue 1 (2025)
Published: December 2025
Abstract
Therapists working within the role of professional care-giving for survivors of trauma can experience an impact to their health and well-being. The emotionally demanding nature of the role can lead to implications on professional quality of life and the manifestation of body-centred countertransference (BCT). These implications may be exacerbated when the therapist has personal experiences of childhood trauma and an insecure attachment style. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between childhood trauma and therapist outcomes of burnout and BCT. A cross-sectional survey of 192 trauma therapists was carried out online wherein participants completed a number of self-report measures. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Results indicated that psychological distress and insecure attachment styles predicted trauma therapists’ reported scores of burnout as measured by the Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire. BCT was significantly predicted by anxiety, psychoform and somatoform dissociation, and childhood emotional abuse. The study findings and clinical implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are indicated.
Keywords: body-centred countertransference; attachment; childhood trauma; burnout
Cite this article
Kelly-Delaney, A., Karpuk, D., & Egan, J. (2025). Psychological well-being in therapists who are members of the UK Complex Trauma Institute. Perspectives on Complex Trauma, 6(1). https://www.complextraumainstitute.org/post/psychological-well-being-in-therapists-who-are-members-of-the-uk-complex-trauma-institute
Copyright and licence
© 2025 The Author(s).
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Published by the Complex Trauma Institute.
ISSN 2635-0807