Four Terms That Are Not Interchangeable

This article is addressed most directly to the community this project concerns. Its purpose is not to prove anything but to supply language.

Secondary traumatic stress

Symptoms that mirror PTSD, arising from knowing about a traumatic event experienced by someone else: intrusive memories, avoidance, hypervigilance, sleep disturbance.

Vicarious traumatisation

Not symptoms, but internal shifts in belief — about safety, trust, and the predictability of other people.

The change is not experienced as a symptom. It is experienced as having learned something true.

Compassion fatigue

Secondary traumatic stress combined with burnout — cumulative exhaustion from sustained demand, not a discrete exposure.

Moral injury

Not fear, but guilt and shame — a persistent sense of having failed at something one should have done.

I knew, and I did not do enough.

Moral injury does not require that a person could in fact have acted effectively. It requires only that they believe they should have.

Why the distinctions matter Extension, not finding

These frameworks were developed for professional helpers and immediate family. Whether they apply to a neighbour or a town has not been studied. A name is not evidence — but until now, there was not even a name.