Coping With Compassion Fatigue: Steps To Revitalize And Get Back Into Nursing
By Emily Hayden on 08/08/2017
A patients first impression of a clinic or hospital is heavily based on the bedside manner of the nurses they encounter. Does my nurse see me as an individual instead of just another illness to be evaluated? Or are they just on a mission to clock out for the day? Will my nurse make an effort to understand the trauma this illness has caused in my family, or will they make assumptions to avoid the emotional investment?
The empathy and compassion required to be an effective nurse can also be exactly what leads these healthcare professionals to leave the field in search of a job that is not as emotionally taxing.
Being a caregiver can and should be rewarding. But what happens when all that giving begins to take its toll? This is when compassion fatigue becomes a concern. But before you decide nursing isnt for you, read on to find out what the experts have to say about dealing with compassion fatigue.
Heres How You Can Prevent And Treat Compassion Fatigue
Its important to take steps to reduce compassion fatigue. Untreated, the symptoms of compassion fatigue can lead to mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorders and substance use disorders.
It might sound cliché, but you need to put your own oxygen mask on before you help others with theirs, Dr. Srivathsal said. We need to make sure we are tending to our own emotional and physical well-being and needs while we are involved in providing care for others.
Dr. Srivathsal recommends:
How Can I Learn To Better Help Trauma Victims
If youre interested in social work that focuses on counseling victims of trauma, consider enrolling in an online Bachelor of Science or Master of Social Work program with Council on Social Work Education accreditation. While some entry-level social work jobs require a bachelors degree such as a BSW, many of the professions advanced positions require you to have earned your MSW. Earning your a degree online can make the process easier, since an online university is structured to allow you to advance your education without uprooting your life. Plus, earning your bachelors or masters in social work online can help you graduate faster and thus save money. If you specialize in crisis and trauma, you can learn how to help others cope with trauma in ways that allow you to take care of yourself and avoid compassion fatigue.
Walden University is an accredited institution offering an online BSW program and an online MSW program. Expand your career options and earn your degree in a convenient, flexible format that fits your busy life.
*Kate Jackson, Social Worker Self-CareThe Overlooked Core Competency, Social Work Today, on the Internet at www.socialworktoday.com/archive/051214p14.shtml.
The American Institute of Stress, Compassion Fatigue, on the Internet at www.stress.org/military/for-practitionersleaders/compassion-fatigue.
Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, www.hlcommission.org.
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A Perfect Storm For Compassion Fatigue
Unlike other disasters that tend to bring people together to rebuild, pandemics make you fear your neighbor.
Pandemics cause compassion fatigue because the price is so high with getting sick and the fear it generates, explains Charles Figley, founder and leading researcher at the Traumatology Institute at Tulane.
The cost of caring is sometimes high, says Figley.
Every day we hear about the millions of Americans who have been infected by the new coronavirus and the hundreds of thousands who have died, often alone and away from family.
We hear the pain of their grieving loved ones, as well as the hardships faced by people losing their jobs, fearing eviction, and being unable to feed their families.
We get burned emotionally when we absorb trauma on a regular basis without a working plan to manage the consequence of the trauma memories and its wake of impact, says Figley.
This is why, throughout history, plagues have often led to loss of compassion. In the early 15th century and 16th century, plague victims were shipped to an island to die and buried in mass graves. In other cities, victims were sealed in their homes and no food or care was allowed.
In A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe wrote about an epidemic that struck London in 1665.
Everyone is struggling, and so its important to look out for each other, says Eric Zillmer, a professor of neuropsychology. Compassion creates a sense of belonging and a feeling of peace and mindfulness.
Burnout And Compassion Fatigue
Burnout is a special type of stress that caregivers and professionals may experience, including a sense of reduced accomplishment and physical and/or emotional exhaustion. Compassion fatigue encompasses a much greater level of stress and exhaustion, occurring as a result of helping others who experience emotional or physical pain, oftentimes referred to as the cost of caring however, someone presenting with compassion fatigue shows a significant decrease in the ability to empathize with others. Compassion fatigue is a type of secondary traumatic stress, which occurs as a result of helping or wanting to help others who are in need. Though they share similar features, burnout generally develops more slowly over a period of time, while compassion fatigue may have an unexpected onset and can occur without warning signs. Professionals and caregivers who experience compassion fatigue may react to situations differently from the way in which others typically respond, due to an erosion of compassion skills. A majority of individuals in any kind of helping profession experience at least some degree of burnout or compassion fatigue in their lives. Minimizing and managing ones stress are important for self-care and living life more fully. This leads to greater self-compassion, including self-kindness, mindfulness, and our shared humanity.
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Does Resilience Training Help
A 2015 study in the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing argues for resilience training, a program designed to educate care workers about this type of fatigue and its risk factors. Such training teaches how to employ relaxation techniques and build social support networks to cope with symptoms that arise.
What Triggers Empathy Fatigue
Its true that those in caregiving professions are more likely to experience empathy fatigue. However, not everyone who cares for others full-time goes through it. What makes the difference between those who deal with empathy burnout and those who dont?
There are four main factors that increase susceptibility to empathy exhaustion:
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Its Defined As A Sense Of Emotional Exhaustion Triggered By A Widespread Period Of Distress Its Not Callousness And Its Not Just You
What does one say to someone in distress and reaching out? How does one condole with a different person every day? Is there a cure to the numbness each new piece of bad news brings? The feeling of emotional exhaustion triggered by a widespread period of distress is called compassion fatigue. It leads to a reduced ability to empathise and process grief or loss. It is also called the negative cost of caring.
Compassion fatigue is a feeling that has become familiar to psychotherapists and counsellors in the pandemic. Now, its a feeling familiar to the general populace too. People are in situations that no one can be prepared to handle, from health emergencies to the associated panic, says Vandana Choudhary, clinical psychologist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences , Delhi.
How have the therapists been coping? It helps to acknowledge your own suffering, lean on peers, learn to take breaks from it all, and make time for the things you love, they say.
3. Acknowledge that you are doing all you can. So much is not in ones hands right now, says Choudhary. For the lay person that translates as vicarious trauma. In such a time, one needs to look for ones own control boxes what is that they can do .
Examine Beliefs About Self
Its not enough to just go through the motions of self-care, emphasizes Schwanz. It needs to be a legitimate attempt. In our society, we applaud people who work themselves to death, who neglect their own self-care to help others, says Schwanz. We rarely applaud people for taking the day off. Psychologists may have internalized this message, viewing self-care as selfish, says Schwanz, who is studying such beliefs relationship with compassion fatigue. As a result, psychologists may not reap the benefit of any self-care efforts they make, because they engage in behaviors such as worrying about work on a day off. And psychologists shouldnt feel guilty about taking time for fun and laughter during this sad, anxious time, adds Thomas Skovholt, PhD, of the University of Minnesota. Playing games, watching funny movies and the like can replenish the energy needed to help others, he says. Even a tiny dose of positive emotion, such as noticing flowers blooming, can help.
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Signs That You May Be Experiencing Compassion Fatigue
The risk professions highlighted above are very demanding and all consuming. Beth Hundall Stamm, PhD, a leading expert on compassion fatigue developed the Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire .8 This questionnaire is an effective tool to determine levels of compassion satisfaction, burnout, traumatic stress, and other levels of trauma a person may be experiencing.
The most common signs of compassion fatigue include:
- Ongoing physical, spiritual, and emotional exhaustion
- Feeling detached or distant from your environment and emotions
- Feeling overly sensitive or insensitive to the emotional experiences of others
One of the dangers of compassion fatigue is those that suffer from it refuse to acknowledge it. Sherrie Bourg Carter, Psy.D. explains the danger of denial because it prevents those who are experiencing compassion fatigue from accurately assessing how fatigued and stressed they actually are, which prevents them from seeking help.7
Developing And Practicing Self
Self-care strategies can be hugely beneficial for anyone, but they are especially helpful for those experiencing compassion fatigue. While identifying and developing self-care strategies that work is important, finding time to actually put these strategies into practice on a regular basis is more important. These strategies not only enable professionals to cope with work stress, they help boost resilience, which is the ability to quickly recover from difficult or trying situations.
Eat a Balanced Diet
While some fatigued individuals may forget to eat or resort to unhealthy processed foods, maintaining a balanced diet is one of the simplest ways to practice self-care. For those on the go all week, finding a time on the weekend to shop for healthy food and prepare meals for the workweek can be extremely helpful. Individuals with compassion fatigue will also benefit from eating three solid meals each day and keeping these meals on a somewhat regular schedule.
Exercise Regularly
Exercise has been proven to reduce stress and increase endorphins, but finding time to exercise can be difficult, especially for individuals who havenât previously had an exercise routine. Starting small with just a few minutes of walking each day and then building to longer workouts can be an effective and sustainable way to build physical activity into everyday life.
Get Consistent Sleep
Establish Work-Life Balance
Address Emotional Needs
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Ways To Deal With Compassion Fatigue
CaringBridge Staff | 02.14.20
Compassion fatigue is the traumatic stress experienced by those who are spending significant time taking care of a loved one who is sick or in distress. When someone you know or love is going through a very hard time, that persistent empathy can cause compassion fatigue.
Most of the time, those who experience compassion fatigue are healthcare professionals like nurses or caregivers. But, it can also affect other individuals, like those who live with someone who is suffering. These feelings can even be triggered for people who regularly view content where people are in distress, like on social media or TV.
We asked the CaringBridge community of patients and caregivers about their experiences with this type of stress. Here are their tips to help you deal with compassion fatigue:
Compassion Fatigue Vs Empathy Fatigue
While related, empathy fatigue is distinct from compassion fatigue.
Compassion fatigue is also known as secondary traumatic stress. This may occur when a person who normally feels motivated to help others that are struggling with physical or emotional wounds, suddenly feels less able to care.
Empathy fatigue occurs when, despite ones own wounds being re-triggered by the circumstances, traumas, and pain of others, people feel less able to offer support.
To understand this distinction, its helpful to look at the definitions of both empathy and compassion.
Empathy involves a vicarious identification with the thoughts and feelings of another person. Compassion, however, is rooted in the desire to help.
The symptoms of compassion fatigue arise from the desire to help those in pain. But empathy fatigue, in many ways, occurs because one feels the pain so acutely.
Empathy fatigue is also distinct from burnout, which is a response to consistent and unrelenting chronic stress. Burnout typically arises in response to demanding work environments. It often results in employees feeling less motivated and less satisfied with their performance.
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The Other Side Of The Coin
Compassion fatigue is a tough fact of life for many nurses, but that doesnt mean nursing is always a psychological drain. Carlson says he is optimistic about the career and the fulfillment that comes from the tangible differences a nurse can make with their patients.
There is an endless list of things that make nursing rewarding, Carlson says.
While it is important to focus on all the positive aspects of nursing, it is also crucial to address the challenge of compassion fatigue that some nurses will encounter as they strive to give the best care to their patients. Its also encouraging to know you can overcome it and continue the career you love.
Stress Is Part Of Life
It is important to recognize that stress is a part of life, and it is easy to experience burnout and compassion fatigue when we do not move off of our automatic pilot way of steering through life instead of taking the steering wheel, recalibrating, and moving carefully and calculated in a values-driven direction. In fact, all humans will and do experience discomfort, including stress, self-doubt, fatigue, and fear. It is our attempts to eliminate discomfort that are doomed to fail at some point. We find that the more you try to get rid of discomfort the more you got it . We eventually realize that our solutions to eliminate discomfort now become the problem. This can exacerbate our burnout and compassion fatigue. Instead of focusing on self-care, we incorrectly focus on trying to keep digging and digging within the hole we have found ourselves. Yet, analyzing how we got in the hole or blaming the hole or the shovel does not help at all. We need to stop struggling with the stress and take active steps to do something different, something aligned with who and what we care about. This includes steps to care for yourself.
If you did not care you, you would not experience discomfort and there would be no potential struggle. However, there does not have to be a struggle. There can and is a better way of managing the situation, our thoughts, and emotions.
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Find Proactive Ways To Help Others
The pandemic brings a lot of bad news, and it leaves a lot of us feeling powerless in our ability to actually help.
This increases the chances that, over time, you might feel the need to tune out from other peoples suffering.
Instead, try to find proactive things you can do that make a difference.
These can be small acts of kindness for friends and family, like mailing a care package or running errands for neighbors. You can offer to do this in community groups like Nextdoor.
You can also get involved with a charity or cause you believe in.
Empathy And Compassion Fatigue
Compassion fatigue is different from burnout because it causes caregivers to experience a diminished sense of empathy for their loved ones or those they care for. This distinction is important because many family caregivers take on their role out of love. Informal caregivers look out for family members, unlike nurses and other professionals who arent tasked with caring for people they are personally close to. Family caregivers are invested emotionally in their loved ones, making them even more vulnerable. Studies show that compassion fatigue happens when a family caregiver relationship is founded on empathy, and typically results in a psychological response to stress which progresses into physical, spiritual, social, and psychological social exhaustion.
Once someone has developed compassion fatigue and experiences insensitivity or indifference to their patient or loved one, they should temporarily remove themselves from their caregiving role.
Someone with compassion fatigue may exhibit actions such as yelling, neglecting, or even hitting their loved one. Essentially, it is an action that is not a typical characteristic of the caregivers usual behavior but is now a present or consistent behavior.
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How To Cope With Compassion Fatigue: 8 Ways To Improve Caregiver Health
1. Be aware of changes in your level of compassion fatigueYour level of stress and how you feel about caregiving can change from day to day and may also depend on your older adults health.
You could try rating how you feel on a scale of 1-10.
For example, if youre usually feeling irritated and overwhelmed as well as having trouble sleeping due to worry, you might decide that youre at a 7 and jot down a few top symptoms.
The scale is up to you a 1 could mean no symptoms at all, a 5 could be a variety of symptoms that come and go, and a 10 could be that your symptoms are so severe and unrelenting that your health is at serious risk.
Keeping an eye on your compassion fatigue levels and top symptoms helps you notice and take action before you reach a severe stage, like a 9 or 10.
2. Make self-care a priorityTaking care of yourself isnt a luxury. Self-care is essential for long term caregiving. It keeps you mentally and physically healthy and protects against compassion fatigue.
It might feel selfish to take time for yourself, but if youre run-down, overwhelmed, and have a short temper, that will definitely come through when youre caring for your older adult.
When youre feeling healthy, youre able to be a better caregiver.
Each person has a different way of taking care of themselves, but in general, youd probably want to:
5. Write in a journalAn effective stress reduction technique thats perfect for caregivers is journaling.
