ef training ltd
First written about in the late 1980s by American Traumatologist, Charles
Figley, Compassion Fatigue is the “inevitable consequence of being immersed
every day in other people’s trauma and suffering”. When you witness another
person’s suffering your nervous system assumes that this ‘trauma’ is also
happening to you and so initiates the flight and fight response. You can do
neither as your job is to stay calm and cope, so you repress the feelings and
carry on. However, the physical and emotional reaction does not go away and
unless you deal with these feelings they build up over time leading to the
symptoms of Compassion Fatigue. What are the symptoms? In many ways, the
symptoms mirror those of the people or animals you are trying to help. These
include feelings of acute anxiety, being unable to rest or relax and feeling
that you need to be at work all the time as you are the only one who is capable
of doing the job well. It can also manifest itself as feeling constantly
irritable and short tempered, unable to sleep or feeling very withdrawn and
detached. Your immune system is also affected by the constant stress, so some
people experience multiple minor illnesses or constant headaches and back pain.
