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@Linguist_CIOL DECEMBER/JANUARY The Linguist 27 OPINION & COMMENT The burden of imagination When an interpreter is exposed to details of painful events, such as abuse, end-of-life care, torture and war, a vicarious traumatisation tends to develop over time. The interpreting is not only about words but visualisation. One colleague told me that during a community interpreting session she is like an actress getting into a role, and we know that some actors experience trauma connected with the horrific roles they play. Imagination is a great psychological feature. Imagining what it is like for a person to feel pain, loss, devastation, helplessness and hopelessness on a prolonged basis changes your perspective on your own life. After interpreting for a palliative care patient, you may become more fearful for an elderly relative's wellbeing and safety; after interpreting for a suicidal teenager, you may become concerned about the mental health of your own teenage child. Interpreters are particularly vulnerable to vicarious trauma as our involvement with such material is active; our listening is active. We not only "hear and act on the traumatic content, we in a way, re-enact it by retelling the traumatic accounts in the target language". 2 Just as a repetitive physical strain can cause injury that requires treatment, a repetitive psychological strain can negatively affect our mental wellbeing. Helping ourselves Community interpreting is not regulated in the same way as other helping professions, such as psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and clinical nursing. We do not automatically have access to supervision or feedback. However, there are many ways we can help ourselves. Talking to colleagues is one of the simplest options. By talking through the emotions associated with a traumatic story that you have conveyed, you share your stress. This can be done in a way that protects client confidentiality. According to Freud's theory of repression, suppressing painful events, experiences and feelings can lead to mental health problems. He called this "the cornerstone on which the whole structure of psychoanalysis rests". 3 Traumatic interpreting assignments may stir up underlying emotional issues that the interpreter has suppressed and that adversely affect their ability to perform their work. This could, however, be quite enlightening: by exploring such repressed emotions, the interpreter may become more self-aware and better at their job. The ethics of working under stress So should you keep interpreting if you feel exhausted after weeks of draining assignments? Can you still offer a high-quality service? Interpreters who suffer vicarious trauma often end up leaving the profession. We lose their experience and work. You have the right to be healthy and safe in the course of your work, but you also have a professional duty to take care of yourself. 4 Preventative measures include awareness of occupational hazards and maintaining a good work/life balance. As Bancroft et al note: "When your empathy is engaged (which happens constantly in community interpreting) you are at risk of suffering from compassion fatigue or vicarious trauma. Find the right balance between remaining empathic enough to interpret accurately and to make appropriate decisions, while at the same time keeping enough emotional distance as to not be affected by the situation that is interpreted." 5 All the interpreters I work with have developed "a comfort zone in community interpreting". 6 For some, this means they do not work in therapy, others do not work with cancer patients, while others do not take assignments with the police. We all need to find our limits and respect them. Notes 1 Adams, KB, Matto, HC & Harrington, D (2001) 'The Traumatic Stress Institute Belief Scale as a Measure of Vicarious Trauma in a National Sample of Clinical Social Workers'. Quoted in Bancroft et al (2015) The Community Interpreter: An international textbook, Columbia, Maryland: Culture & Language Press 2 Op cit. Bancroft 3 Barratt, BB 'Opening to the Otherwise: 'The discipline of listening and the necessity of free- association for psychoanalytic praxis'. Quoted in op cit. Bancroft 4 Op cit. Bancroft 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. professional level. I had always felt immensely privileged to accompany patients and their families during end-of-life care, but I had not felt a sense of accomplishment. Only when talking with families afterwards did I understand what having an interpreter in such circumstances meant to them. They gained useful 'mini-breaks' in the capsule of interpreting session time. These breaks allowed them to compose and 'breathe out' emotions and feelings attached to being present at the side of a dying loved one. The daughter of one of my cancer patients told me: "I was dreading the clinician questioning my mum about end-of-life care. I almost did not want to hear the questions. I was in denial the same way my mum was. Having an interpreter meant that you were the one who took the first heat of heaviness of questions concerning end-of-life care and then interpreted them to us. This dissipated tension and brought some head space." A family member can thus adopt a double role of spectator and distraught relative. Somehow the interpreting process can take a bit of the burden off their shoulders, which would not be possible in a shared language environment. I can see this now as an interpreter's achievement, albeit at a price. Dr Renata Towlson is a community interpreter and freelance writer. TL