Compassion Fatigue: Is Fatigue Possible Out Of Compassion?
Compassion fatigue is an experience, in where a person feels worn-out. This feeling is due to the profession undertaken by the individual working under stressful conditions. Doctors, fire fighters, nurses in some cases psychologists and psychiatrists are the people who are common victims of this king of fatigue. These people have to witness a lot of suffering in their work places. This suffering is either physical or mental. This fatigue affects them adversely. A human being is a social animal and therefore has a tendency to feel and care for others. Compassion fatigue is a process. It does not appear one fine day all of a sudden; it takes some time to build up and finally surface. However in some cases social workers that assist survivors of natural disasters can suffer from this type of fatigue almost immediately.
Harm caused by compassion fatigue:
Compassion fatigue if sustained can be very harmful. A great amount of research has been done to identify the problems caused by it. Following are some of the symptoms of compassion fatigue:
* Compassion fatigue is capable of affecting a person cognitive process, that is the thinking process. This affects the perception of self worth, the value of family, friends, community, and other social resources are closely related to general morale.
* Stress and depression are common symptoms. But they can tricky, as because of these symptoms, the problem will be diagnosed as stress or depression rather than compassion fatigue.
* A feeling of great dissatisfaction rises. These people may feel that despite of their efforts, they have failed in their profession or that they have no skill to stop the misery.
* High feeling of exhaustion also appears.
Treatment:
Several therapists have come up with a great variety of treatments for this compassion fatigue. Treating this problem is not a very difficult task. In fact if the sufferer responds immediately to the treatment, it can be taken as a good sign. One of the popular treatments is the one introduced by Shad Meshad. His is a two-day session of hands on solutions, which make a difference in the professional and private lives of those working with and around trauma. He provides this treatment via a workshop. This workshop is intensive where the people speak about their hectic lives and the suffering they have seen. This is a group session and it helps heal these people as they realize that even others are suffering from the same and hence these kinds of problems do not necessarily have to affect their work. This workshop is designed to impact the emotional, psychological, physical, social and spiritual well being of the individual. Meditating and speaking out the traumas to close ones may be a good form of treatment so that the stress does not build in and rise.