The psychological implications of interpreting in conflict zones. Elements for potential mental-health and self-care training for interpreters

Due to the highly emotional and primarily negative nature of the interpreted message, interpreters in healthcare, police, court and humanitarian settings experience increased occupational stress and emotional/psychological strain that can lead to permanent conditions such as burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious traumatisation. This is even more true of interpreting in conflict zones, where PTSD has long been documented among soldiers. Little attention has been paid, however, to the specifics of interpreter traumatisation in this highly particular setting and no attempt has yet been made to identify key elements of possible “trauma training.” To fill this gap, interpreters who worked in Croatia and Bosnia–Herzegovina during the 1990s were interviewed in this study to explore the specific features of their traumatic experience, considering the specific context-related, job-related and content-related trauma factors. This analysis was then combined with existing trauma guidelines for community interpreting, to identify elements of possible trauma training and adapt them to this psychologically very particular setting, where the provision of any kind of training is itself a challenge.