lOMoARcPSD| 27139804
Define and describe your understanding of burnout and compassion fatigue. In addition,
describe how you as a caregiver, leader or counselor plan to remain resilient to avoid
experiencing burnout and/or compassion fatigue in your ministry and/or work. .
When someone drains or depletes their own mental and physical resources or capabilities, in
search of an unrealistic expectation is how Wicks (2010) has defined the term burnout. I think
my definition would be quite similar. However, when we talk about the actual symptoms, I didn’t
realize what they were. I just thought it was having too much of something.. like long work
projects back to back to back. While this may be part of it, there is a bigger picture.
The underlying symptom of burnout is stress (Wicks, 2010). The more stress you feel, without
the ability to decompress, leaves one with a higher chance of burnout. I have felt this more than
once in my professional career. The source of stress wasn’t the job itself, but the toxic work
environment. The place I worked at sucked every bit of emotional and mental energy from me
and left me with feelings of anxiety, loss of control, cynicism, and resentment. I loved my actual
job and taking care of my patients but crying on my lunch break and coming home exhausted
was becoming too much to bear.
Compassion fatigue is rooted in similar fashion as burnout, but is often experienced by a
caregiver and is often sudden onset vs. burnout. Compassion fatigue is also a product of
exposure to another person’s trauma (Sorenson et al., 2016). As a caregiver, it is unrealistic to not
be effected by someone else’s traumatic experiences of loss or their sufferings. One could argue
that you don’t have to be a direct caregiver, but a human being. By design, we are emotional and
social creatures and when another person is in pain, we want to help. As a result of this innate
desire to help, we can become bogged down with “emotional baggage.”
Because the nature of the “caregiving business” is to form strong and healthy, therapist/patient
relationship, it is imperative that I carefully monitor my own mental and physical health. To do
that, some signs to look for closely mirror burnout:
1. Avoidance or dread of working with some clients.
2. Reduced ability to feel empathy towards patients or families.
3. Frequent use of sick days.
4. Detachment.
5. Decreased intimacy (emotional and/or physical).
6. Feelings of loneliness.
What do we do? How do we care for caregivers? This very question is why Dr Wicks (2010, pg.
10) asked himself “What drove my work as a caregiver for other caregivers, and how can I
continue to care for others in a professional yet deeply compassionate manner? And how can I
truly nurture my own interior life through creative, new, disciplined, and simple ways, to
embrace a sense of resilience and mindfulness?” The answers to his personal query became the
foundation for his book. In an article written by Sorenson et al., 2016, p.462)
lOMoARcPSD| 27139804
Self-care was reported to be the
most significant
preventative measure HCPs could
take to protect them-
selves from developing CF and
“Self-care was reported to be the most significant preventative measure providers could take to
protect them-selves from developing compassion fatigue and burnout.” In the work setting,
Managers should aim to create a
professional en-
vironment that promotes
teamwork and positive working
relationships because p
managers and human resources should work together to create a professional environment that
promotes teamwork and positive working relationships; in Sorenson et al’s. (2016) study, poor
administrative leadership was a major factor in the development of workplace burnout and fatigue.
References
Mattioli, D., Walters, L., & Cannon, E. J. (2018). Focusing on the Caregiver: Compassion Fatigue
Awareness and Understanding. Medsurg Nursing, 27(5), 323-328.
http://liblynxgateway.com/madigan?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/focusing-on-
caregiver-compassion-fatigue/docview/2118744203/se-2?accountid=175969
Sorenson, C., Bolick, B., Wright, K., & Hamilton, R. (2016). Understanding Compassion Fatigue in
Healthcare Providers: A Review of Current Literature. Journal Of Nursing Scholarship, 48(5), 456-465.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12229
Wicks, R. (2010). Bounce. Oxford University Press.
