Compassion and Empathy Fatigues – Common Fatigues in Workers

Compassion and Empathy Fatigues are both common occurrences among working people. This article will help us understand them and find ways to cope and take care of ourselves.

We all know that caring and empathy are key components of being a “good person.” But being good doesn’t always make us happy. When we choose to take responsibility for the feelings of others to the point that we end up suffering ourselves, this is called “emotional contagion.” If we allow emotional contagion to occur over time, we can eventually become exhausted from taking responsibility for the pain and problems of others.

“While we try to heal the wounds of others, we become our own wounds.”

If we work in an environment that involves dealing with the emotional trauma of people around us, such as a hospital, psychiatric clinic, or homeless shelter, we may experience feelings of extreme exhaustion and hopelessness from those environments. And if we start to feel that we are no longer able to listen or care for others, then we are probably experiencing compassion fatigue or empathy fatigue.

What is Compassion Fatigue?

Compassion fatigue is a term used to describe the physical, emotional, and psychological symptoms that come from helping others. It is most often caused by stress or trauma, and can be related to environmental stress or feelings of hurt for others. It occurs because compassion fatigue is linked to work-related fatigue and job-related stressors that put you in stressful situations on a regular basis.

“Compassion fatigue occurs when something is triggered by your thoughts, emotions, and well-being.”

For example, some professions, such as therapists, may be affected by compassion fatigue through their patients’ experiences and stories. Here are some examples of causes of compassion fatigue:

1. Provide therapy to patients who have experienced severe problems or are currently facing severe problems.
2. Being physically or verbally harassed while providing care to a patient
3. When faced with a patient who is suicidal or threatening to commit suicide
4. Providing care to patients in hazardous environments
5. Providing care for patients with depression
6. Expert in caring for patients who have experienced death, grief or tragedy.
7. Caring for patients who have experienced illness or have experienced the death of a child.
8. Providing care under heavy workloads due to excessive patient demands
9. Services that require visiting the scene of an incident, viewing evidence, handling evidence, or reporting injuries.

“The worst thing is to be too tired to care for anyone.”

When we reach the point of extreme compassion fatigue, we feel that we can no longer take responsibility or care for anyone’s feelings. This is a result of being repeatedly exposed to stressful or traumatic events, and we can see the emotional and physical manifestations of this as follows:

1. Emotional expression

• Isolation from others
• Feeling cold or disconnected
• Lack of energy to care about other things around us
• Feeling discouraged, helpless or hopeless
• Cannot be related to others
• Feeling angry, sad or depressed
• Obsessive thoughts about the suffering of others
• Feeling tense or nervous
• Feeling speechless or unable to respond appropriately to what is happening around us
• Blame yourself

2. Physical expression

• Unable to concentrate, be productive, or complete daily tasks
• Have a headache
• Have nausea or stomach pain
• Have difficulty sleeping or have continuous, competing thoughts.
• Self-medication with drugs or alcohol
• There is a sense of conflict in our relationship.
• Changes in our appetite
• Feeling exhausted all the time
• Avoid other tasks or activities

What is Empathy Fatigue?

The term empathy fatigue was first coined by Professor Mark Stebnicki of East Carolina University. He discovered the phenomenon in counseling professions. He found that empathy fatigue was more common in people who work in teaching, caregiving, or other careers that require working with others, such as health care professionals, coaches, and educators.

Care fatigue is the emotional and physical exhaustion that comes from caring for people day in and day out. Over time, these people can start to feel indifferent and gradually become distant or have difficulty caring for people. To understand more, let’s see if we are experiencing care fatigue.

12 Signs of Caregiver Fatigue

1. I feel like everything is too much. I feel hopeless and have no way to help others.
2. Feeling angry, irritated, anxious, and tense
3. Feeling lonely, either emotionally, physically or mentally
4. Reduced empathy, unable to respond to bad news or support others as they used to.
5. Brooding and dwelling on negative feelings
6. Blame yourself for failures that hurt others.
7. Reduced ability and self-confidence
8. Nausea, dizziness, headache, fatigue, insomnia, and mental fatigue
9. Unable to concentrate on work, conversations, or daily activities
10. Lack of enjoyment in activities that were once fun and enjoyable
11. Lack of participation and attempts to avoid the tasks that were previously performed
12. Very sensitive to criticism

“There is a difference between compass fatigue and empathy fatigue.”

Compassion fatigue, also known as traumatic stress, can occur when we feel motivated to help others, struggling with physical and emotional wounds, but suddenly feel too exhausted to care for others, even though we have a desire to help others. Empathy fatigue, on the other hand, involves putting ourselves in the shoes of another person’s thoughts and feelings. The pain comes from witnessing someone experiencing intense pain.

Signs of fatigue

Burnout can affect our ability to function or carry out our daily activities, but fortunately, there are some signs that you may be experiencing compassion fatigue or empathy fatigue. Here are some signs that you may be experiencing compassion fatigue or empathy fatigue:

1. Mood swings – Research shows that long-term stress can lead to moderate to severe mood swings. Sometimes, the symptoms can be caused by compassion fatigue or excessive empathy leading to stress.
2. Experience the Breakup – A common sign of burnout is social withdrawal, evident in friendships or relationships that have been abandoned. We may feel emotionally disconnected from others or numb in our personal or professional lives.
3. Anxiety or depression – Feelings of anxiety or depression are a response to stressful or traumatic situations that are too much for you to handle. You may feel anxious about the world around you, feel down, depressed, or begin to doubt yourself. Some people take extra precautions about their personal and family safety.
4. Problems with Productivity – Studies show that stress is related to our mental and physical fatigue. We may have trouble concentrating or being productive in our personal or work life. Long-term stress can affect our memory and make it difficult for us to focus on the task at hand.
5. Insomnia – One sign of fatigue is suffering from disturbing images that can interfere with our thoughts or dreams, leading to insomnia and fatigue.
6. Physical symptoms – Fatigue can cause a variety of physical symptoms, such as tiredness, lethargy, changes in appetite, digestive problems, headaches, etc.

There are also four main factors that increase susceptibility to compassion fatigue and empathy fatigue:

1. Lack of self-awareness – We often suppress the need for rest, choosing to put the needs of others before our own. As nice as it may sound, everyone has personal needs, and neglecting your own personal needs carries a high risk of causing physical and emotional fatigue.
2. Poorly defined boundaries at work – Failure to set boundaries at work and in relationships eventually leads to burnout. But because the lines between work and home are not clear enough, boundaries can become difficult to define.
3. Sudden emotional loss – Whether it’s a job, a home, or someone you know, loss can leave us feeling unsettled. Many people turn to work or other responsibilities to try to bring themselves back to normalcy, and without dealing with the loss, they often risk their emotional health greatly.
4. Multiple Pressures – We may perform well under one set of pressures and falter when those challenges arise. Since we all have limited energy and resources to meet our daily responsibilities, situations can become overwhelming and leave us feeling truly helpless.

10 Ways to Prevent and Reduce the Effects of Compassion and Empathy Fatigue

Let’s explore some everyday things we can do to prevent and cope with compassion and empathy fatigue.

1. Acknowledge what is happening – Refrain from judging the experience as good or bad. Recognize that it is just our feeling. Work on our emotional intelligence so that you can recognize your emotions and control them appropriately.
2. Practice Mindfulness – Practicing mindfulness helps develop coping skills for everyday life.
3. Take a Break – Escape from the pressure and fill your day with a break to recharge.
4. Ask for help – Share what you are doing, thinking or worrying about with others. Ask for support from those around you and give them a chance to help you.
5. Make new connections – Make new connections by volunteering, making new friends, or continuing your education. Rediscovering can help rekindle your passion for doing something.
6. Have fun – Chances are, if we’re feeling burned out, we’re missing out on a lot of laughter and fun. It can be hard to come up with something fun to do, so try to do something fun at someone else’s request.
7. Try something new – Learning new things can help slow down aging. The added benefit is that we may find new ways of thinking about challenges that have been blocking us all along.
8. Put down your phone – In our always-connected world, putting down our devices can be quite distressing, but once you give it a try, you’ll find that the world around you is a lot better than the virtual world on a square screen.
9. Talk to a professional – If you feel like your symptoms are affecting your daily life, consider reaching out to a coach or mental health professional to help you heal.
10. Get back to basics – Few of us feel like we are doing our best. If we are feeling down, look at our routine to make sure we are getting good sleep, eating nutritiously, drinking enough water, and exercising regularly, etc.

Conclusion

Compassion and empathy fatigue can happen to anyone in the workforce, especially if their job involves working closely with people. Empathy fatigue is sometimes referred to as “medical fatigue” because it has historically affected the health of frontline workers. For example, the occupations of doctors, nurses, therapists, first responders, and journalists are at greatest risk because they are exposed to stressful or traumatic events repeatedly, which can make them more susceptible to emotional trauma from what they have experienced or felt through others.

Burnout is considered a post-traumatic stress disorder, a type of stress that comes from helping people get through the day-to-day. It is an undeniable fact that we cannot help others as much as we can if we are tired ourselves. So before we can take care of or be responsible for someone else’s feelings, we need to take care of and be responsible for our own feelings first.

“The best place to start when it comes to empathy and caring for others is to be empathetic and caring for yourself.”

References:

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-compassion-fatigue
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/empathy-fatigue-how-stress-and-trauma-can-take-a-toll-on-you/
https://www.betterup.com/blog/empathy-and-compassion-fatigue

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