Compassion Fatigue
Compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma are terms often used interchangeably. Here's how I understand them in relationship to burnout and secondary trauma.
Compassion fatigue, or vicarious trauma, has been described as work-related burnout plus a secondary traumatization that creates a shift in one's attitude or worldview. That shift is significant, it's not just a passing emotion. While compassion fatigue is not an official mental health diagnosis, it is widely understood in psychological fields, one of its common occupational homes.
Can you heal vicarious trauma?
Not just burnout, compassion fatigue has the added element of a secondary trauma which can happen suddenly and create acute responses of the nervous system. This may happen when processing trauma with a therapy client, helping a medical patient during an emergency, seeing another person be abused, or witnessing an accident. Secondary trauma is commonly known to impact first responders of medical or mental health crises, but it can happen to anyone, especially those who work in people-facing support roles.
One instance of secondary trauma may or may not lead to compassion fatigue but certainly over time, chronic occurrences of it shift the sudden and acute experience into a long-term and all-encompassing change in how one sees the world and themselves in it.
SIGNS OF COMPASSION FATIGUE INCLUDE:
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Feeling helpless in the face of another person's struggles
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Reduced empathy and sensitivity to others
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Feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by work demands, maybe even a bit agitated or resentful
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Emotional disconnection and detachment in and outside of work
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Mental exhaustion and decreased ability to focus, remember, or otherwise function typically
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Isolation or withdrawing from others
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Chronic physical and emotional exhaustion
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Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
Frequently Asked Questions
About Compassion Fatigue
What is the difference between burnout and depression?
Burnout is typically related to chronic work or caregiving stress, while depression affects many areas of life and often includes persistent low mood, loss of pleasure, or hopelessness. A therapist can help determine what may be contributing to your symptoms.
How do I know if I have compassion fatigue?
Compassion fatigue can develop after prolonged caregiving or helping others and may include emotional exhaustion, reduced empathy, irritability, or feeling overwhelmed. Therapy can support recovery while helping you establish healthier boundaries.
Why are millennials experiencing so much burnout?
Many millennials face economic pressures, constant digital connectivity, shifting workplace expectations, and caregiving responsibilities. Therapy can help address burnout while exploring sustainable ways of living and working.
Can therapy help high achievers recover from burnout?
Yes. Therapy helps high achievers examine perfectionism, chronic stress, and unrealistic expectations while supporting healthier balance and long-term well-being.
Why am I successful yet still feel empty or dissatisfied?
Success may meet external goals while leaving deeper emotional, relational, or existential needs unmet. Therapy can help clarify what brings genuine fulfillment beyond achievement alone.
Compassion Fatigue in
Business Leadership
While secondary trauma happens often for first responders, it can also occur in non-emergency workplaces, as well. Being in a leadership role may task you with frequently having to hold the emotional reactions and needs of your employees, whether or not they may define some of these emotional experiences as traumatic.
With current trends promoting the importance of EQ in leadership, managers are being asked to use their heart in their work. They're asked to be more sensitive to the needs and emotions of their employees, while not exactly growing in resources or support to do so. This sensitivity is needed and likely effective for the business, workplace culture, employee morale and collaboration, and our own humanity beyond the job
Charles R. Figley, PhD, founder of the Traumatology Institute at Tulane University says compassion fatigue is an occupational hazard of “any professionals who use their emotions, their heart.”
description, but it puts business leaders on the list of people who may be likely to experience compassion fatigue, especially if they weren't trained on how to put boundaries around their empathy.
What can help compassion fatigue?
Some of the work includes:
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Taking a break from the traumatic stimuli
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Finding safety in your nervous system where the secondary trauma may now live
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Processing the experiences of trauma or secondary trauma in a safe container with a trusted partner
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Reflecting on (and maybe even updating) your values and priorities
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Establishing firm boundaries around things not aligned with your values and priorities
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Identifying where else you may need to assert boundaries in order to keep yourself emotionally and energetically safe with others
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Increasing mindfulness around otherwise unconscious exchanges of energy with others
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Building community and other support structures
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Practicing self-compassion
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Setting reasonable expectations for what impact you're able to have on a struggling individual
