Are you a mental health professional or caregiver? Would you like to know how to avoid burnout or compassion fatigue?
Many of us know that we need to watch out for compassion fatigue (Figley, 1995) but are at a loss on how to do this. Compassion fatigue is “a state experienced by those helping people or animals in distress; it is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degree that it can create a secondary traumatic stress for the helper.”
Contrary to Figley, Kristin Neff, Ph.D argues in her “Art of Self-Compassion: Accepting your Imperfections,” workshop that there is no such thing as compassion fatigue. You cannot feel too much compassion for yourself or others. There is only empathy fatigue. This post will provide you with some of Neff’s simple techniques for preventing empathy fatigue as you care for patients, clients or loved ones.
[For more of this story, written by Dorlee Michaeli, go to https://pro.psychcentral.com/s...fatigue/0020272.html]
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