Many people working in caregiving roles or high-pressure environments face emotional and physical exhaustion. Two terms often used to describe these experiences are burnout and compassion fatigue.

If you work in a professional setting that deals with other people’s trauma day in and day out — at a hospital, in a psychologist’s office, or at a homeless shelter, for example — you may experience a ...

People whose professions lead to prolonged exposure to other people's trauma can be vulnerable to compassion fatigue, also known as secondary or vicarious trauma; they can experience acute symptoms ...

Can caring too much hurt your mental health? It's called compassion fatigue, and mental health experts say it's a phenomenon that occurs most commonly in people who work in professions like caretaking ...

Compassion fatigue used to be a problem that was most commonly seen among health care professionals. Because their work puts them in situations where they commonly see or hear about ongoing and ...

Anyone who works in a “helping profession” can experience compassion fatigue — physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, even first responders. Every specialty is vulnerable, from palliative ...

When tragic events happen, no matter how far away from us they are, it’s hard not to pay attention. Many of us empathise with the people in these situations and wonder how we can get involved, or if ...

The 20th-century French philosopher Simone Weil once said that compassion was an impossibility. She said it is “a more astounding miracle than walking on water.” The word she used for meeting the ...

For decades, medical schools and hospital systems have warned physicians about “compassion fatigue” — the idea that caring deeply for patients eventually drains you. But a growing body of research ...

Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. After serving in the Vietnam War, Charles Figley became interested in the concept of trauma—not only the lasting psychological ...

In April 2020, my great-aunt suddenly died from a rare and aggressive cancer. She was an adored and hilarious high school “cafeteria lady” of 20 years, but her funeral wasn’t the celebratory affair I ...

We're all tired and could do with a four-day working week... and have a lot going on in our personal lives. But, while you may have heard of burnout (where prolonged stress affects our wellbeing), ...