What is Compassion Fatigue?

What is Compassion Fatigue? If you’re experiencing compassion fatigue then you need to know exactly what it is and how it could be affecting you. 

Compassion fatigue is described as feeling tired, down, and burnt out due to caregiving experiences and empathy for others (although burnout is something a little different). It is characterized by a relentless and persistent tendency to experience feelings of exhaustion in response to concerns for members of the family, friends, colleagues, and community.

Compassion Fatigue in Caregiving

Compassion fatigue most often affects highly compassionate people–particularly those in healthcare, home care, education and social service settings.

When compassion fatigue arises due to the stress that comes with being a caregiver, people can think that it’s general depression. The reason why is because it’s not a well-known condition–but it is a very real one. This can mean that some people begin to feel even more isolated because they may feel like they “have nothing to complain about,” they “don’t have it as bad as someone else,” or they “should just be more positive and happy.” These thoughts tend to make the whole situation a lot worse because the situation, and with it, the person’s feelings are being pushed to the side.

Symptoms of Compassion Fatigue:

Compassion fatigue can be tricky to figure out because many of its symptoms appear in other conditions like Generalized Anxiety Disorder, depression, and/or burnout. Here’s a list of some of the symptoms people with compassion fatigue may experience: 

• Exhaustion, burnout, numbness, and other psychological trauma
• Reduced satisfaction with work and reduced satisfaction with activities you used to enjoy
• Not experiencing a real sense of connection with your surroundings or your emotional experience
• Crying often
• Constantly thinking about trauma survivors and dwelling on their suffering
• Listening to others' suffering and feeling overwhelmed, hopeless, helpless, or powerless
• Angry feelings, irritability, sadness, and anxiety
• Being hypersensitive to stories you hear or feeling insensitive to emotional material you might see or hear
• Having a tense, agitated, or nervous disposition
• Heightened intolerance for stress
• Cognitive haze
• Feeling less empathetic due to overwhelm of other people’s emotions
• Feeling like you’re always looking after everyone else at the expense of your own needs
• The feeling that you should or could have done more before, during or after a traumatic event where others suffered
• Feeling less productive or efficient at work
• Concentration, focus, and decision-making can be difficult.
• Physical symptoms (which can present in a variety of ways)
• Nausea, dizziness, headaches
• Conflicts within relationships
• Nightmares and trouble sleeping
• A change in beliefs (such as beliefs about self, others, world, life meaning or future)
• Reduced sense of accomplishment and effectiveness at work
• The tendency to isolate and withdraw from other people
• Using self-medicating substances and self-medicating to cope with depression

Tips on How to Handle Compassion Fatigue

If you feel like you may be experiencing compassion fatigue, there are some ways to help yourself out without feeling even more drained. Much like with burnout, selfcare is the first step, but there are also some other strategies you can use as well. 

• Draw strong boundaries (with yourself and others) when it comes to your ‘you’ time.
• Grant yourself permission to take up new hobbies or pay more attention to old hobbies. 
• Exercise–even a short walk every day can make a huge difference. 
• Power down your electronic messaging systems like email, text, phone, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Give yourself time to recharge without the constant thought than anyone could call at any moment. 
• Set boundaries for work/life balance and don’t overcommit.
• Tell your family and loved ones when you just need to take a moment to yourself without any interruptions or noise.
• Give yourself a break.

• Build a support network of mentors and friends. 
• Remind yourself that it’s okay to ask for help.
• Speak to a professional if and when you feel like it’s time.
• Journal about your feelings.
• Try to notice what your triggers are for your most down moments. 
• Treat yourself often and remember that you’re doing that for the sake of yourself and also others. 
• Spend time in nature and leave the phone in the car. 
• Know that you can’t fix the world’s problems alone or in a day.

Although it might not seem like it, compassion fatigue is figurable-outable. You're strong enough to have gotten here in the first place and you’ll always be that strong. Remember that you need to put your oxygen mask on before you can help someone else with theirs – otherwise, you might both pass out.