Experienced academics at Oxford University are being offered counseling so they can avoid being traumatized by their research.

    Critics say the move is the latest example of pandering to the emotionally delicate "snowflake generation" who are over-sensitive to difficult situations.

    But university chiefs say the aim is to avoid "vicarious trauma" for postgraduates researching fields such as war, genocide, natural disaster, domestic violence, imprisonment and sexual abuse.

    During two two-hour sessions last term, participants – many of whom would do teaching as part of their work – learned how to maintain their "personal and professional wellbeing" despite facing "exceptional emotional demands" from hearing about troublesome experiences.

    The move follows the introduction of "trigger warnings" alerting students when lectures might include challenging material, and "safe spaces" where controversial opinions cannot be voiced – moves which have been derided as over-sensitive and politically correct.

    Of the new counselling sessions, Professor Alan Smithers, an education expert from Buckingham University, said, "You would have thought that if people were likely to suffer from secondary trauma, they wouldn't be in that line of work.

    "I cannot see why Oxford should use the time to put this on, but perhaps there is so much health-and-safety legislation around these days that the university might feel it has to protect itself from being sued."

    Oxford University said that the new trauma workshops were open to anyone who might need them, but were primarily for graduate students, usually in social sciences, "doing research involving fieldwork in dangerous and emotionally distressing environments."

    A spokesman said, "Our vicarious trauma workshops were designed for researchers whose work involved traumatic situations such as conflict zones, and whose own safety may have been in jeopardy."     

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

    替代性的

    tìdàixìng de

    vicarious

    felt or enjoyed through imagined participation in the experience of others

    危险

    wēixiǎn

    jeopardy

    hazard or risk of or exposure to loss, harm, death, or injury

    牛津大学给“雪花一代”学者提供心理咨询

    为避免本校有经验的学者在研究中心灵受伤，牛津大学将为他们提供心理咨询服务。

    “雪花一代”往往在困境前过度敏感，批评者认为，这项举措正是向情感脆弱的他们妥协。

    但牛津主管人员称，这项举措旨在防止研究战争、种族灭绝、自然灾害、家庭暴力、关押监禁和性虐等领域的研究生们遭受“替代性创伤（想象别人的痛苦而给自己带来的创伤痛苦）”。

    上学期，牛津开设了两节两小时的课程，参与者——其中许多人有教学任务——学习如何在听到痛苦的经历时直面“特殊的情感需求”，保持“个人与职业幸福感”。

    该咨询课程进行了课堂改革。当课程涉及到刺激性内容时，将会有“触发警告”提醒学生。而且，在“安全区”中，不允许发表争议性观点。这些规定被嘲笑为“过度敏感”和“政治正确”。

    对于这项新的咨询课程，白金汉大学的教育学专家艾伦?史密瑟斯教授说：“你不禁会觉得，如果人们容易遭受二次创伤，他们从一开始就不会在这一行工作。”

    “我不知道为什么牛津要花时间开设这个项目，可能是如今英国有太多健康与安全法规，这项举措可以使牛津避免被指控。”

    牛津大学声称，该新型创伤咨询对任何有需要的人开放，但会优先考虑研究生。这些研究生通常研究社会科学，“研究领域涉及那些危险残忍的环境”。

    发言人称：“我们的替代式创伤咨询是为那些研究领域涉及战争冲突区等地的痛苦场景，可能危及自身心理健康的研究人员设计准备的。”