The Unbearable Fatigue of Compassion: Notes from a Substance Abuse Counselor Who Dreams of Working at Starbuck’s

Abstract

Current research has determined that a larger percent of social workers and other counselors are affected by PTSD types of symptoms when working with traumatized clients than the general population. While much of this research addresses workers in specific trauma areas like sexual assault centers or child welfare agencies, little specific thought has been given towards the special stress that working with Substance Abuse Disorders (SA) and trauma may present. This paper takes a brief look at the issues of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue with SA practice and describes future investigation pathways toward this goal.

The health and well-being of Indigenous drug and alcohol workers: Results from a national Australian survey

“…While Indigenous workers reported greater work/life imbalance they also reported high levels of co-worker support which may be effective in ameliorating workrelated strain. As other studies have found (e.g., Ducharme, Knudsen, & Roman, 2007), co-worker support appears to mitigate against stress and burnout, and in addressing vicarious trauma and emotional fatigue (Fahy, 2007) among drug and alcohol workers.…”

"Building through the Grief": Vicarious Trauma in a Group of Inner-City Family Physicians

“…2 By engaging in empathic relationships with patients, helping professionals such as family physicians undergo a transformation in their inner experiences that impacts emotions and cognitive patterns. 3,4 Far from being pathologic, VT is a normal part of any caring professional's emotional response. Just as trauma symptoms are a normal response to a traumatic event, VT is a normal response to working with traumatized patients.…”

“…2 Identification of VT is important because if left unchecked, it can lead to a specific form of burnout often referred to as compassion fatigue (CF). [3][4][5][6][7] Although VT is a normal part of the work, CF is not inevitable and can be prevented. 8,9 This qualitative study set out to explore the phenomenon of VT in a group of inner-city family physicians caring for a patient population known to experience high levels of trauma: women using illicit drugs.…”

Diálogos bilaterales entre investigadores de la Glasgow Caledonian University (Reino Unido) y la Universidad de Alicante (España). Estudios interdisciplinares

“…CF may in turn also have an adverse effect on the way HCS may view their work and the clients they serve (Germer, 2009;Tehrani, 2010). Fahy (2007) suggests that burnout can have a blaming component to it and the unspoken message is that if you are burned out it is already too late. She proposes that CF may be a more useful term to encourage dialogue between workers and supervisors to enable them to decide on solutions.…”

“…The term Compassion Fatigue (CF) has been offered as a way of describing what may happen to a HCS over time (Fahy, 2007). There are a number of studies that focus on the negative cost of caring (Boisaubin and Levine, 2001;Gilroy, et al, 2002;Smith and Moss, 2009), however, there is also evidence to show that HCS can transform the stress of this type of exposure into growth.…”