Compassion fatigue

Compassion fatigue is emotional and physical exhaustion associated with prolonged exposure to others’ suffering and caregiving demands. It can involve reduced empathy, distress, and difficulty sustaining care.

Secondary traumatic stress: Trauma-related symptoms that develop after indirect exposure to another person’s traumatic experiences. It describes trauma-like symptoms that can accompany repeated exposure to others’ suffering.
Compassion: Concern for another’s suffering accompanied by a motivation to alleviate it. Compassion is the caring response that prolonged caregiving may strain.
Trauma-informed care: An approach to services that recognizes trauma’s effects and prioritizes safety, trust, choice, and empowerment. Trauma-aware systems can reduce avoidable strain on both care recipients and providers.
Post-traumatic stress disorder: A disorder that can develop after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Compassion fatigue is not itself a diagnostic disorder, though trauma symptoms may overlap.
Empathy: The capacity to understand or share another person’s feelings and perspective. Sustained empathic engagement can make others’ distress emotionally demanding.
Caregiver stress: Physical, emotional, or social strain associated with caring for someone with ongoing needs. It supplies the broader caregiving context in which compassion fatigue can occur.
Clinical supervision: Structured professional support that helps practitioners reflect on and improve their work. Reflective supervision can help practitioners process difficult caregiving experiences.
Depression: A mood disorder marked by persistent low mood or loss of interest, among other symptoms. Depression has diagnostic criteria and causes that are not limited to caregiving exposure.
Allostatic load: The cumulative physiological burden of adapting to repeated or chronic stress. Prolonged caregiving stress can accumulate when demands outpace recovery.
Compassion satisfaction: The sense of fulfillment derived from helping others through one’s work. It is a positive counterpart that can coexist with compassion fatigue.

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