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Compassion Fatigue



When we feel that we’ve lost the capacity to care—when we cannot find any compassion left towards people or causes we’ve dedicating our energies to supporting—we are suffering from compassion fatigue. This can affect any of us at any time, and it often hits those of us whose vocations are in service to others the hardest. Whether we are friends or family members, caretakers or teachers, in emergency response or healthcare, it can feel alarming and disorienting to suddenly lose a facet of ourselves that we’ve always relied on, especially one that helped define us as a “good person.” The good news is that like any other type of energy, our compassion is an internal resource that can be cultivated and renewed: refocusing on our own self-compassion first can help us rejuvenate lovingkindness towards others.

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Drowning in Empathy: The Cost of Vicarious Trauma | Amy Cunningham | TEDxSanAntonio

Caregivers and emergency responders are empathetic individuals who risk suffering from Compassion Fatigue, a form of PTSD that is treatable using the steps described in Amy’s presentation.

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Overcoming Compassion Fatigue: A Practical Resilience Workbook

Those in the helping professions are constantly at risk of compassion fatigue, yet many have little guidance on how to deal with it effectively. A fresh workbook approach for compassion fatigue, burnout and stress, providing all the tools you need to leave work at work—and let it go.

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Caregiver Burnout

Caregiver burnout is a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion. Stressed caregivers may experience fatigue, anxiety and depression. Some ways to prevent burnout include joining a caregiver support group and using respite care services.

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How to Manage Compassion Fatigue in Caregiving | Patricia Smith | TEDxSanJuanIsland

Caregivers are often so busy caring for others that they tend to neglect their own emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Studies confirm that caregivers play host to a high level of compassion fatigue.

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Healing Secondary Trauma: Proven Strategies for Caregivers and Professionals to Manage Stress, Anxiety, and Compassion Fatigue

Taking care of the caregivers―a compassionate guide to healing secondary trauma A traumatic experience can have profound impacts on the people directly involved.

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The Pain of Caregiving and the Privilege of Suffering

It is essential for those in caregiving roles to cultivate self-compassion alongside compassion for others, to create an inner atmosphere of kindness, expansiveness, and awareness in which resilience can flourish.

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Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others

This beloved bestseller—over 180,000 copies sold—has helped caregivers worldwide keep themselves emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and physically healthy in the face of the sometimes overwhelming traumas they confront every day.

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Caregiver Stress: Tips for Taking Care of Yourself

Caring for a loved one strains even the most resilient people. If you’re a caregiver, take steps to preserve your own health and well-being.

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To Save a Starfish: A Compassion-Fatigue Workbook for the Animal-Welfare Warrior

Compassion fatigue is the emotional drain experienced by caregivers of both people and animals. In this invaluable workbook, counselor and animal-welfare expert Jennifer A. Blough focuses on people who work with animals, and who often don’t get the help they need.

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Help When Your Heart Breaks

Caring for people who are suffering is a loving, even heroic calling, but it takes a toll. Roshi Joan Halifax teaches this five-step program to care for yourself while caring for others.

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Caregiver Well-Being