This study inquired into the existential themes intrinsic to the experiences of psychotherapists who work with survivors of torture. This study explored various manifestations of existential themes including existential guilt, thrownness, limits of freedom, isolation, meaninglessness, and death anxiety in psychotherapists who work with survivors of torture. Since there has been a paucity of research into psychotherapists’ experience of working with survivors of torture and no research that explores vicarious traumatization from an existential perspective, a qualitative research design was used in order to address the gap in the literature. This study is both deductive and inductive because the general focus of inquiry is to address the questions, “How are existential themes manifested when psychotherapists describe the meanings of their work with survivors of torture?” and “What are the experiences of psychotherapists who work with torture survivors?

Ten licensed psychotherapists who have worked with minimum number of five survivors of torture were interviewed about their experiences of working with survivors of torture. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze existential themes, whereas constant comparative method was used to analyze other emerging themes from the data.

All of the existential themes as well as their polar continua were reported at varying emphasis by the participants of this study. Existential guilt was reported by four of the therapists whereas the polar continuum of a heightened sense of responsibility was a prominent theme in the experience of six of the participants. Seven of the participants articulated an increased awareness of their thrownness as a result of their work with survivors of torture. Six of the therapists expressed the theme “limits of freedom” and four of the participants described the polar continuum of acceptance and responsibility. Meaning was a central theme among all of the participants. Whereas three participants mentioned the theme “meaninglessness,” all of the participants discussed meaning and purpose in describing their work with survivors of torture. The isolation theme, which included the interpersonal, and existential isolation was mentioned by seven of the participants. Nine of the participants articulated this theme’s polarity issues of relationship, intimacy, and continuity. Furthermore, none of the participants described intrapersonal isolation as a theme in the interviews. Finally, three of the therapists reported that their thoughts and beliefs about death have been affected as a result of their work with survivors of torture.

Additionally, several other prominent themes were gleaned from the interviews. These themes included effects of working with survivors of torture in three aspects: personal (emotional strains, psychic benefit, and self-care), professional (therapeutic learnings and adaptations, therapeutic effectiveness, and work with interpreters and sociopolitical (sense of injustice, distrust in media and politicians, and broadened worldview).

Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are included.