Example Lesson
About compassion fatigue
Traumatologist Charles Figley, widely acknowledged as the founding father of compassion fatigue, emphasised that compassion fatigue among care professionals is the physical and emotional cost of caring for those who have experienced trauma.
Figley and others highlight, effective care for clients that have experienced trauma is centered on helping the client to cope with the traumatic experience and is dependent upon the care professional’s use of empathy.
Although unintended, the use of empathy may result in an erosion of empathy, or hearing of the clients experience may increase stress and vulnerability to the body’s natural response to an indirect experience of trauma. An indirect experience of trauma in this context, is outlined in the DSM5 criteria for Trauma and mirrors the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) which can negatively affect care professionals physically, socially, and emotionally.
Such negative effects compromise the care professional’s well-being, interactions, relationships, life, and their capacity to fully engage with and care for the client that has experienced trauma.
The research continues to explore factors that may contribute to compassion fatigue. Recent models explore how environmental stressors may contribute to increasing vulnerability to experiences of compassion fatigue.
What we see on the outside is not always what is experienced on the inside
Author
ProQOL (Stamm, 2010)
Reflect for a moment
Considering your care for others and compassion fatigue, reflect and capture what stands out.
Go to page 3, Activity 2 in your workbook to capture your thoughts.
Reflect for a moment
Considering your care for others and compassion fatigue, reflect and capture what stands out.
Go to page 3, Activity 2 in your workbook to capture your thoughts.