How To Fight Compassion Fatigue

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Many people find themselves caring for others in their personal and professional lives. This may include those in helper professions, such as nurses, therapists, and pastors, and may extend to parents caregiving for a special-needs child and taking care of aging parents.

The increased caregiving duties of doctors, first responders, personal support workers, and those who work in homeless shelters has brought Compassion Fatigue to the forefront. Workplace managers may also experience the effects of extending sincere empathy to employees facing anxiety, challenges at home, and blurred lines between work-life balance.

Giving vast amounts of emotional energy engaging with others sharing their stories takes its toll, though, with the right support, you can gain the skills to gain resilience and thrive amid challenging times. Resources for Compassion Fatigue and burnout are needed now, more than ever before, as professionals feel the impact of vicarious trauma.

As a Burnout Prevention Strategist working alongside organizations and individuals to prevent burnout and support well-being, Ive heard more people than ever complain of exhaustion related to leading others through difficult mental health, emotional, and physical challenges. Transforming organizational culture and helping people thrive is the foundation of this vital work.

Transforming organizational culture and helping people thrive.

How To Deal With Compassion Fatigue When Youre Emotionally Drained

Compassion fatigue occurs when we have to stay compassionate for long periods of time for people who are struggling. It is most commonly experienced by caregivers, such as nurses and therapists who are required to put on a happy face when theyre being emotionally drained all day long. In this article, well share how to deal with compassion fatigue in 13 different ways so you can be kind to yourself too.

Seek Support From Others

When you realize you might be suffering from compassion fatigue, empathize with yourself. Seek help where you may get it, as your only fault is caring.

You need to realize that, to be able to help others, you need to be in top shape. So why not deal with yourself first?

Identify whats important to you.

Helping others may lead to you overlooking catering to your own needs. Sharing your worries with a certified professional may help to detoxify your situation.

Support may also come in the form of a support group. Find people who have been through the same thing and talk about your experiences with them because they can relate.

Realizing that youre not the only one whos been through a situation alleviates the guilt.

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Ways To Combat Pandemic Compassion Fatigue

As the pandemic drags on, we need empathy more than ever.

When my husband and I received emails from our employers telling us they were shutting down our offices, the pandemic suddenly felt very real and very scary.

I was flooded with a desire to help friends, family, and coworkers. Not knowing what I could do, I pledged to myself that Id be extra compassionate to others.

After all, we were all going through something incredibly stressful and unprecedented. Being kind and patient was the least I could do.

And it seemed like we were all a little extra compassionate with each other.

Managers were understanding of my crying baby in the background of virtual meetings, I was extra sensitive to my sons tears, and my husband and I were good at checking in with each other to see how we were handling all the stress.

But over time, that started to wear off.

Before long, both my husband and I found it easy to snap at each other. I found myself getting frustrated when my dog took too long on morning walks or easily frazzled when my son started to cry.

Sometimes, Id willingly avoid calls from family across the country because I didnt have the energy to listen to what was happening in their lives, especially if I suspected they were calling with bad news.

A sick dog, a COVID-19 diagnosis, or a lost job felt like too much.

Im not alone in feeling like this. Lots of friends and family have shared similar stories of feeling on edge or numb this year.

Practise Looking After Yourself

You may feel more distant or irritated with your loved ones. At work, you may feel intolerant of those you work with or become cynical. It might be more subtle, however: you might behave in the right way, but be thinking, Ive seen much worse.

Every doctor who cares about their patients will develop a certain amount of compassion fatigue during their career. You wouldnt expect to walk in the rain and not get wet. Equally, if youre empathically connected with those in your care, it will take its toll. Working in a team and organisation that recognises this and actively mitigates its impact is crucial.

Its helpful to know your signs and responses to compassion fatigue. Questions to consider might be: what are the signs that my usual levels of compassion fatigue are rising? When am I more likely to experience these? What can I put in place to support myself at these times?

Evidence based ways to manage compassion fatigue include ensuring you take breaks at work, making time for hobbies and leisure activities away from work, and having non-work friends. It also helps to routinely check in at the end of each shift about levels of compassion fatigue and openly discuss compassion fatigue within your team to normalise it.

Like anything, the more we practise looking after ourselves, the more we have in our reserves when needed. A career in medicine can be enrichingit doesnt have to come at the cost of your mental and physical health.

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A Nurses Experience With Compassion Fatigue

Catherine Burger, MSOL, RN, NEA-BC has worked as an RN for almost 30 years in numerous patient care and leadership specialties. She now owns her own consulting business and enjoys writing about nursing.

1. How/when did you first learn about secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue?

I first learned the technical name when I began managing a large intensive care unit for a health management organization in Northern California. We were the Neuro Center of Excellence for the health system and provided care for very tragic cases. These nurses were caring for patients during the most vulnerable times of their patients lives, which often brings out the worst behaviors. Patients or families would sometimes become angry, or even violent, against the staff because they were scared or hurting. When I first assumed the manager role, I realized quickly that my nurses were extremely compassion fatigued. In spite of the excellent care they provided, they were emotionally tapped-out when patients or families were unappreciative, rude, or inappropriate.

2. When did you know you were dealing with symptoms?

I knew that I was fatigued in my compassion when I began to dissociate from my patients, had diminished empathy for them, and was getting frustrated easily.

3. What are some steps you took to address compassion fatigue?

4. How long did it take to come out of that season?

5. How do you stay proactive to guard against compassion fatigue?

Not Recognizing Compassion Fatigue

Therapist and Aging Well Consultant Shelley Read, MSW, RSW, says, Developing an awareness of Compassion Fatigue in order that we recognize the symptoms is the first step.9 Responding to crisis is challenging in and of itself. When it feels as though there is not enough time and not enough resources to respond to those challenges, it can become overwhelming.

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How Nurses Can Combat Compassion Fatigue

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Day in and day out, nurses provide empathetic, compassionate care for patients experiencing some of the most difficult times of their lives. This kind of work takes an emotional toll on nursing professionals over time, potentially leading to compassion fatigue, or a decline in the ability to provide empathetic, compassionate care.

Many nurses experience this problem. Compassion fatigue reportedly affects 16% to 39% of registered nurses, with most reports coming from nurses working in areas like hospice, oncology, and emergency care. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of compassion fatigue is reportedly far greater among nurses.

Recognizing and addressing the signs of compassion fatigue may allow nursing professionals to seek the help they need to provide the best nursing care possible.

Compassion Fatigue In The General Public

A secondary definition of compassion fatigue refers to the experience of any empathetic individual who is acutely conscious of societal needs but feels helpless to solve them. People who actively engage in charity, or volunteering, may come to feel that they cannot commit any more energy, time, or money to the plight of others because they feel overwhelmed or paralyzed by pleas for support and that the worlds challenges are never-ending.

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Tip : Assess Your Well

Before doing anything else, its important to get a baseline of your current health. The Professional Quality of Life assessment is a helpful tool that measures your professional quality of life.

Professional quality of life refers to how you feel in relation to your work as a helper. As a veterinarian, you help animals and their owners daily. Both the positive and negative aspects of helping others influences your professional quality of life.

This assessment measures compassion satisfaction as well as compassion fatigue to help you reflect on yourself and your environment. You can then identify areas to better focus your self-care.

Develop Your Own Self

The lifestyle changes you choose to make will depend on your unique circumstances, but three things can speed your recovery.

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Engage Your Workplace Wellness Program

Effective employee well-being programs offer supports for your physical, mental, emotional, and professional health. All too often, when budget crunches occur, one of the first cuts organizations make is to employee well-being programs and supports. Instead, focussing on supporting staff at all levels can save time and money by reducing sick days, increasing productivity, and decreasing resignations. Organizations that train managers to recognize signs of compassion fatigue and burnout, know how to respond with empathy, and provide necessary resources. Healthy, happy employees create healthy organizations that thrive.

Healthy, happy employees create healthy organizations that thrive.

Watch For These Symptoms Of Compassion Fatigue

The sooner you notice signs of compassion fatigue, the sooner you can care for yourself and replenish your stores of empathy. Be on the lookout for:

• Feeling physical, psychological and emotional exhaustion
• Feeling helpless, hopeless or powerless
• Feeling irritable, angry, sad or numb
• A sense of being detached or having decreased pleasure in activities
• Ruminating about the suffering of others and feeling anger towards the events or people causing the suffering
• Blaming yourself and having thoughts of not having done enough to help the people who are suffering
• A decreased sense of personal and professional accomplishment
• A change in your worldview or spirituality
• Physical symptoms, including appetite and sleep disturbances, nausea and dizziness

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Common Signs Of Compassion Fatigue

Compassion fatigue is basically a chronic, low level cloud over the care and concern you have for your older adult.

When you overuse your compassion without taking time to regularly recharge, the ability to feel and care for others becomes worn down.

Common symptoms of compassion fatigue include:

• Physical or emotional exhaustion
• Reduced feelings of sympathy or empathy
• Dreading taking care of someone and feeling guilty about it
• Feeling irritable, angry, or anxious

The Impact Of Compassion Fatigue

This condition can have a variety of negative impacts on both those who experience it and the people around them. First, the symptoms can be difficult to manage, or even debilitating. They can also lead to more serious mental health conditions if untreated, such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder . Next, it can negatively impact a persons relationships. Mood swings and a sense of hopelessness may make it difficult for colleagues to work together as a team with the person, for example, especially if their symptoms have not yet been identified. Since compassion fatigue can also lead to social withdrawal, it can negatively impact a persons relationships outside of work, too. Finally, it can impact patients or others the person is responsible for at work, since symptoms will likely affect their ability to provide care.

The issue of compassion fatigue has gained more attention since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2020 study of healthcare workers in Spain found that both compassion fatigue and burnout were more common in those who worked in COVID-19 units.

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Warning Signs Of Compassion Fatigue

Although symptoms vary, the following red flags may indicate that you have compassion fatigue:

• Abusing drugs, alcohol or food

• Sleep disturbances

If you’re like most physicians, your personal identity is closely tied to your professional role. Try not to attribute compassion fatigue to a character flaw. Negative self-talk about not having what it takes serves no one not you, not your family, not colleagues or patients, and most certainly not your staff members, who have probably already received a fair share of your irritability. Finally, understand that the pain of compassion fatigue is uncomfortable but normal, and that it will dissipate once you start caring for your physical and emotional needs.

Take Care Of Yourself Holistically

It can be tempting to classify wellness to only your physical needs, which typically focus on self-care. It is essential to care for your physical and mental health, emotional well-being, relational supports, and spiritual well-being. Consider the following questions:

• What activities make you feel calm and grounded?

• How are you growing as a person, both personally and professionally?

• What is the simplest way for you to spend meaningful time with friends and family?

• What spiritual practices can create a foundation for your overall health?

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Take Time Away From Work

Satpal Singh Shekhawat, medical director, NHS North Lincolnshire, says, Compassion fatigue is seen among a diverse range of health professions prevalence is variable with no consistency with demographic, personal, or professional variables.1 In the current working environment, where workload is immense and physical fatigue is setting in, healthcare professionals are becoming increasingly emotionally tired.

Compassion fatigue can be identified by self-reflection or through observation by colleagues. In primary care settings, for example, reception teams are well placed to spot the signs. They often will notice that a particular doctor or nurse is not their usual self and appears stressed at work.

This soft intelligence within close knit working environments can be helpful in identifying a colleague in distress, and then measures can be put in place to help that person. There are also tools such as the professional quality of life scale that can be used to identify compassion fatigue.1

There are many ways of tackling compassion fatigue but identifying and acknowledging it is the most important step. Personal reflective debrief after an adverse event and discussion of the event in a blame free environment have been found to improve resilience.2

Cultivating Effective Coping Strategies Away From The Workplace

Coping strategies outside the workplace are just as important as within the workplace. Cultivating these strategies can help individuals maintain their work-life balance and prevent workplace stressors from seeping into their personal lives and homes. In addition to the self-care tips listed above, other effective coping strategies include deep breathing, meditation, or practicing a hands-on hobby like gardening or baking.

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How To Deal With Compassion Fatigue

Many people find meaning and fulfillment in helping others and offering compassion to those in need. But at the same time, caring for others is a deeply emotional and resource-demanding process because you are exposed to other peoples trauma. The more you open yourself up to others pain, the more likely youll come to share victims feelings, and that may begin to take a toll on you.

Its human nature to feel guilty when youre not feeling as sad as you think you should about another persons situation, so you shouldnt beat yourself up about it. But you should remember that compassion fatigue can be a clear sign that youre not taking care of your own mental and physical health.

So what should you do when showing compassion to others feels like a burden? When you recognize that youre experiencing compassion fatigue, you should take steps to work through it. There are effective strategies that will help you cope with compassion fatigue, develop resilience, and build strength.