Because I have worked with severely traumatized people for more than twenty years-- but as a lawyer, not a T-- I think there are more benefits to doing this work (and listening to very intimate details of people's experiences) than a sense of power or a desire to get information on people.

I also train freshly minted lawyers to do this work, and one of them once said to me, "I feel good about myself that I could do this work." What she meant was that not everybody is willing or capable to sit with people in the midst of their pain, and try to figure out how to help them. Lawyers that I've met who work in other public interest areas of law-- such as civil rights-- say the same thing. I think of it as really quite the opposite of desiring "power" over people-- when you work with people in a way that they feel heard and supported and cared for-- it's like giving them part of their own power back. And when you seem them become empowered and strong, that's a benefit in and of itself.

For me, doing this work has also been about finding a way to give back to the world, make it a better place. I could have chosen to go work in a large law firm and make the world safe for corporations, but I chose an area where I could help people who had been abused by other people. In order to help them, I have to be willing and capable of listening to the horrible things that have happened to them. So it's really the work that drives the "getting information", it is not an end into itself.

That's my perspective, anyway.