Compassion Fatigue: Warning Signs and Symptoms
As a Certified Compassion Fatigue Therapist and Educator I understand the importance of care for the caregiver. The majority of my therapy clientele includes professional caregivers who support others in the mental health and medical fields. Without proper support during demanding times we become vulnerable to the experience of compassion fatigue and burnout. Self-care consulting and therapy are great prevention of the deleterious effects of service during trying times. Not to mention the personal impact the past year has had on us.
Symptoms of compassion fatigue can appear gradually or suddenly depending on the individual’s circumstances. The Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) version 5 (2009) developed by Dr. Beth Hudnall-Stamm can be used to measure compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress (compassion fatigue). Click here to access the ProQOL now. Below you will find warning signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue according to Dr. Angela Panos. If you experience compassion fatigue symptoms and/or have any concerns regarding your personal scores on the ProQOL you should consult with a physician or mental health professional.
Compassion Fatigue: Warning Signs and Symptoms
Feeling estranged from others
Difficulty falling or staying asleep
Outbursts of anger or irritability with little provocation
Startling easily
While working with a victim thinking about violence or retribution against the person or person who was victimized
Experiencing intrusive thoughts or flashbacks of sessions with difficult clients or families
Feeling there is no one to talk with about highly stressful experiences
Working too hard for your own good
Frightened of things traumatized people and their families have said or done to you
Experience troubling dreams similar to a client of yours or their family
Suddenly and involuntarily recalling a frightening experience while working with a client
Preoccupied with a client or their family
Losing sleep over a client and their family’s traumatic experiences
Felt a sense of hopelessness associated with working with clients and their families
Have felt weak, tired, rundown as a result of your work as a caregiver
Unsuccessful / find it difficult to separate work life from personal life
Felt little compassion toward many of your co-workers
Thoughts that you are not succeeding at achieving your life goals
Feel you are working more for the money than for personal fulfillment
A sense of worthlessness / disillusionment / resentment associated with your work
Citations
Panos, A. Understanding and preventing compassion fatigue – A handout for professionals, Retrieved August 22, 2014 from http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/prvntcf.html
Stamm, B (2009). Professional quality of life: compassion satisfaction and fatigue subscales, R-IV (ProQol). retrieved December 19, 2021 from https://proqol.org/proqol-measure