Time away from work, meaningful hobbies, exercise, and self-care may all help with compassion fatigue and burnout. Relax. Develop relaxation strategies such as meditation and cultivating mindfulness in the moment. Identify other resources that may help.
To prevent or recover from compassion fatigue, take time for self-reflection, identify what's important and live in a way that reflects it. To sustain yourself at work, develop “principles of practice” — guidelines of personal integrity that articulate the parameters of your personal values.
But researchers have discovered that far from being an immutable trait, empathy can be developed. There are steps people can take to acknowledge their biases and to move beyond their own worldviews to try to understand those held by other people. Bonus: You'll make new friends along the way.
“Empathy fatigue is the emotional and physical exhaustion that happens from caring for people day, after day, after day,” explains Dr. Albers. “Over time, we start to see people experiencing a sense of numbness and distancing or difficulty continuing to care.” Empathy fatigue is a defense mechanism, she continues.
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is associated with an assortment of characteristics that undermine interpersonal functioning. A lack of empathy is often cited as the primary distinguishing feature of NPD.
A lack of empathy is often considered to be one of the distinctive features of narcissism. However, this is not entirely the case.
Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. It's about feeling and being there with someone – even if you haven't been through exactly what they are going through. It's also about being self-aware. If there is a lack of empathy in your relationship, you don't have a mutual and healthy relationship.
CF is defined as “a state of exhaustion and dysfunction – biologically, psychologically, and socially – as a result of prolonged exposure to compassion stress” (Figley, 1995, p. 253). CF is “identical to secondary traumatic stress disorder (STSD) and is the equivalent of PTSD” (Figley, 1995, p. xv).
Compassion fatigue is a term that describes the impact of helping others. Burnout is a term that describes the impact of a stressful workplace. Compassion fatigue has a quicker recovery time than burnout, if managed early. Burnout has a longer recovery time.
Compassion fatigue generally refers to physical, emotional, and mental fatigue that happens after one works closely to help individuals over a long period of time. Those who experience compassion fatigue tend to take on the pain, suffering, and burdens of the people they are helping.
Lacking the ability to feel, understand and resonate with another's feelings is categorised as empathy deficit disorder (EDD). This results in difficulty forming and maintaining relationships for both the individual who lacks empathy and potential friends and loved ones.
Some conditions may play a role in a lack of empathy such as narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Some people, known as dark empaths, understand the feelings of others but don't feel these feelings themselves. They might act like they care, but deep down, they don't feel sympathy for you or have a desire to help. They use their understanding of your feelings to manipulate you.
A lack of empathy can be described as “unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.” This lack is a characteristic of narcissism. The lack of empathy is a big red flag.
Love Does Not Automatically Include Empathy
Based on these definitions and my own experience counseling couples, love does not necessarily include empathy. Think about how some divorced people may still love one another, but never could understand each other!
The Empathy Quotient (EQ) is a self-administered questionnaire designed to measure empathy in adults. It tests the ability to tune into how someone else is feeling, or what they might be thinking.
The tendency to elicit admiration from others is epitomic, but it is manipulative and finalized to take a personal advantage. Empathy plays a crucial but ambivalent role in people affected by narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), who often misunderstand someone else's empathic behavior and social assistance.
In addition to not having a support system you can lean on, other common risk factors for compassion fatigue include: Lack of training/being new to caregiving. Having a history of personal trauma. A history of burnout.
Empathy burnout is common when individuals spend so much of their emotional strength relating deeply to the problems and stress of others that they forget to care for themselves.