How To Treat Compassion Fatigue

How To Prevent And Treat Compassion Fatigue + Tests

Jo Nash, Ph.D.

The wide range of circumstances experienced by counselors and therapists leaves them open and vulnerable to experiencing compassion fatigue .

Such a state of emotional exhaustion typically occurs in response to the depth of empathic involvement required to work with people seeking help for their mental health .

Compassion fatigue is widely recognized as a pathway to occupational burnout and is detrimental to physical and mental wellbeing. Not only that, the condition is damaging to the therapeutic process and harmful to the client.

This article explores the role of self-care in compassion fatigue and the tests, measures, and treatments that can reduce its likelihood and impact.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to . These detailed, science-based exercises will not only help you increase the compassion and kindness you show yourself but will also give you the tools to help your clients, students, or employees show more compassion to themselves.

What Is Compassion Fatigue Anyways

Compassion fatigue affects people who regularly care for the health, safety, or well-being of others. This includes those serving as family caregivers or people working in a helping profession. Social workers, firefighters, and nurses are just a few examples of helping professions.

The condition can cause a number of symptoms that may interfere with your life. Compassion fatigue is when youre exhausted, whether its emotionally, mentally, or physically, says Jenny Yip, a board-certified psychologist and executive director of the Renewed Freedom Center in Los Angeles.

Need For Support For Nurses Who Witness Tragedy And Death

Nursing is distinguished from other human service disciplines in two prominent ways. First, there is no global recognition of the potentially negative implications of nursesâ work . Hence there are few systematic supports in place to help nurses deal with their emotional responses to witnessing the tragedy of others and experiencing associated sadness, grief, and loss. Second, nursesâ risk for heightened intensity of emotional responses is unique in that nurses are not only âfirst responders,â but are also âsustained responders,â who are expected to provide ongoing support and interventions to highly vulnerable patients and families .

It is an expected component of nursing work that nurses witness trauma on a regular basis . Yet, unlike firefighters, police, and even the military, nursesâ interactions with patients are maintained over time in both acute and ambulatory settings, and most certainly in home care. Nurses become part of a mosaic of caring within a family framework that may be fraught with anticipatory loss, tension, disbelief, and physical disfigurement. In the acute care setting they are responsible 24/7 for the patientâs care and the familyâs response to the illness trajectory. Often, they cannot leave the situation after bad news is shared or a death has occurred. It is this extended time, and the placement of the nurse at the center of the interchange that makes nursingâs role unique. Fagin and Diers described:

Read Also: Parkinson’s And Extreme Fatigue

Watch For These Key Warning Signs Of Compassion Fatigue

You might not be familiar with the term compassion fatigue, but you probably recognize the idea behind it: its the feeling that you have no more empathy left to give.

Compassion fatigue used to be something that mostly struck health care workers, first responders, law enforcement officers and at-home caregivers. But as the pandemic continues and the 24-hour news cycle brings nonstop news of suffering from around the world, were all at risk of compassion fatigue.

Compassion fatigue is similar to burnout. But burnout usually stems from having too much work or too many responsibilities. Compassion fatigue comes from helping othersyou want to keep helping, but youre overwhelmed from being exposed to the trauma of others.

Like burnout, compassion fatigue is a process. It takes time to develop. It keeps building slowly, to a point where you start to not care about yourself or others in your life. You end up overusing your compassion skills and reserves, so you no longer have much to provide, said Yazhini Srivathsal, MD, a psychiatrist with Banner Behavioral Health Hospital in Scottsdale, AZ.

Identify Areas In Your Life That Need Boundaries

People whose hearts are filled with compassion and empathy often struggle to identify when and how to set boundaries. But boundaries are a form of self-care that should not be neglected.

The benefits of boundaries with people and work are twofold:

• They allow us to communicate with those around us about how to be in a relationship with us.
• They allow us to be the best versions of ourselves in our work by identifying what is healthy to allow in our lives.

Recommended Reading: Best Thing For Chronic Fatigue

Also Check: Natural Supplements For Depression And Fatigue

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.

Early Warning Signs Of Compassion Fatigue

The Society for Psychotherapy provides a list of compassion fatigue warning signs to watch for through self-reflection. Together, they give a good indication of whether you are meeting your self-care needs :

Ask yourself if the following warning signs apply:

• My patterns of eating, sleeping, or concentration have changed.
• I isolate myself from friends, family, and colleagues.
• I dont take regular breaks when working.
• I am bored and disinterested, and I dont enjoy my work as much as I did.
• I am easily irritated by my clients.
• I feel emotionally exhausted and drained after meeting some of my clients.
• I am not taking good care of myself overlooking my health and self-medicating.
• I find myself thinking of being elsewhere when I am with my clients.
• I find my work less rewarding than in the past.
• I regularly feel depressed, anxious, or agitated.
• I experience more headaches and other physical complaints.
• I cant concentrate and find myself staring into the distance.

Pay attention to the answers you give to each question and overall patterns they may indicate you are burned out or experiencing compassion fatigue. Engaging in self-care is not a nice-to-have, but a necessity for your own and your patients wellbeing.

You May Like: What Is The Symptoms Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Focus On What You Can Control

When things feel overwhelming, it helps to zoom in on the things that dont. Simple routines can become a lifesaver when the world is in chaos.

Put your energy into cooking nourishing meals, watching your favorite shows, or going for a walk in your favorite park. Maybe you take some time to clean out your closet or organize your bookshelf.

These seemingly simple acts can bring back a sense of normalcy and agency when were feeling impotent.

How To Deal With Compassion Fatigue Or Burnout

Seeking out solutions for compassion fatigue and burnout can be difficult. However, there are many things that people can do to try and deal with the mental health issues caused by stress at work or home. Some may feel that they need to leave their job, while others may find other ways to deal with their issues that do not involve leaving the place where they work.

1. Take a break from whatever is causing these mental health issues

People may feel that they need to leave the job or take a break from their work to put an end to these issues. However, sometimes there are other ways that people can deal with them. They need to find other ways of coping with the issues caused by their work, such as:

• Finding ways of coping at work such as getting professional help or reducing workloads.
• Talking to others about how they experience stress and burnout and accepting help from others who have experienced similar issues.

2. Speak to a professional

Many people feel that they need to speak to a counsellor or psychologist about these issues. This can help them deal with the emotional and psychological impacts of the stress that they experience on their mental health. A counsellor can also help them find solutions to deal with their issues more effectively.

Research on burnout suggests that job resources may buffer employees from experiencing burnout whereas job demands may exacerbate the experience of burnout.

3. Talk to a friend about how you are feeling

Read Also: Can Thyroid Problems Cause Fatigue

The Important Role Of Self

While the work of a therapist or mental health practitioner can become emotionally, mentally, and physically draining, it is possible to reduce the likelihood or impact of compassion fatigue through the practice of self-care .

When therapists dont practice self-care, their ability to help others is compromised . Rather than a selfish act or a chore that gets dropped when time is tight, self-care is necessary to maintain a selfless, untroubled attitude with clients. According to Bush , it is an ethical obligation for professionals working toward their clients mental health.

We can approach self-care at two levels. Macro-self-care includes the bigger things in our lives: getting the sleep we need, eating well, taking vacations, focusing on relationships, and spending time doing the things we love. Each is important taken as a whole, they are essential. Micro-self-care involves the small stuff that can easily fit into the busiest of days: taking a moment to breathe, strengthening self-awareness, and practicing self-compassion.

Coaston recognizes therapists routine exposure to painful situations and overwhelming emotions and recommends developing an attitude of self-compassion, mindfulness, and regularly making time for oneself.

Self-care is crucial to therapists wellbeing and ability to function and continue to meet their clients needs, enabling them to refill and refuel in healthy ways .

Clinical Ethical And Diversity Considerations

In preparing for a future career, pre-professionals are not frequently ready to self-reflect on the signs and symptoms of CF . Some graduate training programs in clinical or counseling psychology may not provide formal education about CF. In fact, many do not even promote resilience-building practices such as self-care. However, there are some training sites that provide services to traumatized individuals, which may include training on CF. As clinicians, we should not assume a client has this knowledge even within the field of psychology. Therefore, while Jada self-referred for these negative feelings related to CF, her clinician should still assess her knowledge regarding CF. The lack of awareness of CF often leads to development of more serious psychological symptomatology . Consequently, individuals may not present to treatment until symptoms have progressed to cause significant disruption in current functioning such as excessive stress, depressive like symptoms, anxiety, or with substance abuse concerns. The culture of the graduate program and the internship site can contribute both positively and negatively to the acceptable forms of coping and of expressing need for assistance . The practice of self-care may not be modeled by those in the graduate programs leadership roles. Similarly, some aspects of North American society have promoted a culture of business and excessive work to find meaning and have characterized self-care as a sign of weakness or failure.

You May Like: Widespread Body Pain And Fatigue

You Should Practice Self

Showing empathy and love for other people and helping them is heroic, but remember that you are also human.

These jobs are demanding, and sometimes, we forget that you, too, need compassion and assistance. Like a sponge, you absorb the persons hurt, sadness, and emptiness, and you end up exhausted.

You deserve the compassion and love youre giving, and dont forget to give that to yourself.

Seek Help For Empathy Fatigue And Compassion Fatigue

Its not just healthcare workers and caregivers who require empathy to perform well in their jobs. In todays world, its more important than ever for leaders to be empathetic toward their teams. Empathy and compassion are important qualities to have in any workplace environment.

If youd like to turn your empathy and compassion fatigue into compassion satisfaction, dont hesitate to seek help.

You May Like: What Can I Take For Fatigue And Tiredness

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.

Anger And Hatred Towards The Cause Or Perpetrators

When you work on cases where, for example, a child experiences extreme abuse, its normal to feel anger at the person who did it.

However, if anger becomes too much that it fills your heart with hate, and your work, judgments, and thoughts are affected, this is one of the signs of compassion fatigue.

Don’t Miss: Alarm Safety And Alarm Fatigue

A Contemporary Description Of Compassion Fatigue

If compassion fatigue is not addressed in its earliest phases, it can permanently alter the ability of a caregiver to provide compassionate care. While compassion fatigue has been observed in professional caregivers and discussed in the literature over the past two decades, a specific definition of its characteristics and corollaries has not been uniformly embraced . As a result multiple terms have been used synonymously to describe the phenomenon. A list of compassion fatigue descriptions used by the various authors referenced in this article is provided in Table 1. The use of multiple terms to describe compassion fatigue, and the absence of a distinct and accepted definition has hindered the study and identification of interventions related to this important problem seen in clinical care settings .

Nurses are particularly vulnerable to compassion fatigue. For health professionals, compassion fatigue arises when providers have close interpersonal contact with a suffering patient and their emotional boundaries become blurred to the point that the caregiver unconsciously assimilates the distress experienced by the patient . The internalization of patientsâ adversity may result in the healthcare professionalsâ feelings of self-blame, futility, or impotence, especially if these scenarios occur repeatedly over time. Physicians, social workers, and counselors have been identified as health professionals at risk for compassion fatigue .

Seek Help From A Mental Health Professional

Healthcare workers and other caregivers need to take care of their own mental health, too. A mental health professional can assess and determine your baseline or normal, Ruffin says. This helps you recognize when symptoms are worsening or improving.

For example, if an ER nurses baseline is that they normally sleep well but now have trouble nodding off at night, that could be a red flag. Or, a social worker whos usually calm and even-tempered might begin snapping at coworkers, clients, or family members. Working with a therapist can help them recognize this as a sign something is wrong.

From there, a therapist can work with you to find coping strategies to manage compassion fatigue. Some ways a therapist can help you include:

• Providing extra support and validation for your struggles

• Developing a better work-life balance

• Building better boundaries around your work responsibilities

• Finding a new job or role to minimize your stress risks

• Helping you build a stronger network of support among your colleagues

Read Also: Anti Fatigue Kitchen Mats Amazon

Ways To Combat Compassion Fatigue And Still Create Change

Are you feeling compassion fatigue?

Unsplash- Vladimir Fedotov

Taking care of yourself doesnt mean me first, it means me too. ~L.R. Knost

We all want to help others, but what if that begins to take a toll on ourselves? When this happens, we may experience compassion fatigue. We feel like we have to be the strong person because we are the helper. But even the helper needs help. Theres a South African term called Ubuntu meaning humanness is found through our interdependence, collective engagement and service to others. Compassion and empathy are necessary for the survival of our species and the world. So, when we feel apathetic and depleted from overextending ourselves helping others, what do we do? The truth is that compassion fatigue is perfectly normal in a caregiving setting. We get attached and are affected by another persons trauma and struggles.

says compassion fatigue is when giving is no longer living. She says, Ask yourself what is the most important thing in your life? Youre going to say your children, your family, maybe your career so you can provide for your family. And all of that is the wrong answer. What if I told you the right answer was, I am the most important thing in my life. Me. Try to reframe your perception with that.

• Chronic exhaustion
• Hypersensitivity

A way to test burnout is with Maslach Burnout Inventory, the gold standard for measuring burnout. Try this toolkit by Mind Garden.

Distinguishing Compassion Fatigue From Burnout

The impetus for burnout stems from conflict within the work setting… stems from emotional engagement and interpersonal intensity associated with witnessing tragedy within the work setting. While burnout and compassion fatigue are separate concepts, they share similarities . They both impose added coping and adaptational demands upon nurses. Valent has postulated that failed survival strategies generate both responses and result from failure to achieve desired goals. Burnout arises when assertiveness-goal achievement intentions are not met. Compassion fatigue evolves when rescue-caretaking strategies are unsuccessful, leading to caregiver feelings of distress and guilt. With both burnout and compassion fatigue, feelings of frustration, powerlessness, and diminished morale ensue.

Also Check: Best Birth Control For Fatigue