Sunday, April 18, 2010
Is awareness enough?
Although there's quite a few studies on compassion fatigue among therapists that work with the chronically ill, it's also an issue that affects other therapists that work with other populations (i.e. substance abusers, juveniles, etc). On Thursday we talked about compassion fatigue and tried to tie this phenomenon with what we have observed at our internships. There's often a confusion between what is compassion fatigue and burnout. According to Figley (2002), "compassion fatigue, like any other kind of fatigue, reduces our capacity or our interest in bearing the suffering of others"(1434). On the other hand, burnout is "a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situations" (Figley, 2002, pg. 1436). Compassion fatigue is prominent in cases where a therapist is empathizing with their clients to a point where their exhausted and they cannot continue being compassionate. Burnout can affect anyone when they're exhausted from their work. Since compassion fatigue is something that is more prominent in the human services/social work field (which is usually comprised of mostly woman), do you think gender plays a role in who's more susceptible? Also, do you think educating therapists of this phenomenon is enough?
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I think that the gender observation is very interesting. The correction officers I've worked with seem very un-compassionate, but I'm not sure one can diagnose them with compassion fatigue. They certainly seem unable to show compassion for the population they work for, and I wonder if that is because the majority of the officers, as well as the inmates are males. Clearly the work is different.
As far as your other question is concerned, education sure is not enough, but it is a start.
So I’ll start off by saying that my gut reaction to your question regarding compassion fatigue between genders was that women are probably more likely to develop it because, by stereotype, we’re more emotional. But then I thought about my father, and he’s pretty sensitive. He takes to feeling your problems more than my mother does. Then I read an article from New York Times called “What if Women Ran Wall Street?” and noticed some other differences that blur gender differences even more: “Rational behavior is not as natural to men as stereotypes would suggest” – if this is true, then here’s my first token of support that compassion fatigue isn’t female targeting. My justification is that our differences are often exemplified like this: Girl: “I know she’s on an airplane, but I FEEL like she’s not calling me back on purpose…” Boy: “You let your emotions get in the way of your rationality.” Stereotypically, girls think too much, and this could feasibly cause compassion fatigue if we can’t compartmentalize clients’ traumatic stories into our “work life.” Men are supposedly able to separate themselves from the deep pain they hear of & may feel during therapy better than women and give you a more logical breakdown of the situation. But the stories of those men interviewed for the NYT article seem to indicate that boys have a greater tendency to act and think irrationally, however they tend to do it privately. I think this would increase the chances males would get compassion fatigue, as one of the best ways to protect yourself from it is to talk to others about what you’re feeling. This touches on your last question: whether or not education on compassion fatigue is enough…(“enough” of what, I’m not exactly sure from your comment). Education is always, ALWAYS a useful tool to understanding yourself and your world. Like I said in class, telling women that anger was bad for them because it raises cortisol levels that have been linked with obesity stuck with them – weeks later I overheard one of the students saying she wasn’t going to let another client be responsible for giving her a fat stomach. Telling drug addicts what they’re doing to their veins when they inject heroine does resonate. If you know what you’re feeling, you know you’re not weird or alone, and you’re act a better position to work yourself through a hard time.
I have a few comments aimed at broadening the conversation.
Compassion fatigue seems connected to someone's sense that she/he is or has become powerless to be effective in that relationship. Burned out teachers don't feel like they are "getting through," exhausted social workers have seen so much that perhaps they don't feel like what they do makes a difference, or it doesn't change enough about the person's life to protect them. I know for myself as a teacher and as a parent that I feel most fatigued when, despite the effort, I don't see the desired outcome (an improvement in writing, respectful behavior). That would be my contribution to the gender discussion here (an interesting question): do we need to take into account perhaps a larger sense of powerlessness that women experience in society that might give them some head start toward compassion fatigue?
I also wanted to broaden the context for compassion fatigue, though I think our focus on the service provider/client relationship is the most useful for our program. You also hear compassion fatigue talked about in the aftermath of such tragedies as the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and China, Hurricane Katrina, etc. It dominates the news for a couple weeks amid a flurry of Red Cross donations, telethons, bake sales and clothing drives and then our attention is grabbed by something else. For anyone who has been to New Orleans lately, many sections are still very much in the aftermath of Katrina there several years later. (Anyone watching the new David Simon show, "Treme"?) Haiti will take years to recover and of course the history of that nation is forever altered. When devastating, soul-depleting news is always around the corner, how do we as citizens, as a society, as humans regenerate our abilities not only to feel for others but to act to make a difference?
I agree with Danielle and must say that it is likely that women are more susceptible to compassion fatigue because they fit the stereotype of being more emotional. However, there are some men and women who are exceptions to this. There are some women who are less emotional and some men who are very emotional, so it truly depends on how one reacts to certain situations.
I certainly don't think that awareness is enough to prevent compassion fatigue. It is simply not enough to be educated on the subject. I think that in order to help prevent compassion fatigue we should practice the solutions that were mentioned in the article, such as discussing thoughts/emotions with co-workers. Creating environments that are less stressful can be another way to help prevent compassion fatigue. The punching bag, that Manny mentioned, is a creative way to prevent compassion fatigue.
This article was quite interesting to read about. I find that this may be something that is happening much more often then we are being led on to believe in our society. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion it may be probable that compassion fatigue is not a top concern on the agendas of many working in human services. In which case it is appalling, it should be a serious concern.
Lisa posed an interesting question as to whether we believe gender makes us more susceptible to compassion fatigue. Personally, I can’t say with certainty because I do not know but I find that this is an incredibly interesting question and can’t wait to see what the rest of my classmates will respond. In my humble opinion, it may be possible that gender plays a role. There have been numerous researches in which it has been concluded that women are very susceptible to suffering from emotional disorders. I would just like to take this moment to refer back to a statement Lisa made when posing this question in her blog; “compassion fatigue is something that is more prominent in the human services/social work field (which is usually comprised of mostly woman)”. I’m just curious as to whether women would still be the affected majority if we had more men in the field? I agree with Marling educating therapist and those who may be prone to compassion fatigue is a great idea but it wouldn't be enough, more is neeeded for successful prevention.
I don't believe that women suffer more from compassion fatigue simply because they are more emotional than men. If it is true that women are more emotional than men then it must take them longer to run out of compassion. Are men affected less with this phenomena because perhaps they are less involved with the clients' emotional needs from the start? If so, should this be consider a method for preventing compassion fatigue? I don't think this is a solution. Compassion is something necessary in clinical work because it helps the social worker to care about the clients' needs.
Is education enough to prevent compassion fatigue? I don't think is enough, but it's a start. It would be good if people start to recognize that they are acting like machines, and that they are dehumanizing the clients by not acknowledging their pain and suffering. It's not enough for social workers to be aware that they are distancing themselves from the clients after a few years on the job, and accept the diagnosis of compassion fatigue. Social workers should not only be taught to spot the issue of compassion fatigue after it's prevalent in the work place,they should be required to make up a strategy from the beginning that will help them to avoid being victims of compassion fatigue. It's better and easier to address issues before they turn into big problems.
I think if you follow the line of thought that women are more emotional beings, then women would be less likely to reach compassion fatigue than men because they have a greater capacity for empathizing with others. I think we undermine the difficulties that men face because of the way gender is structured in our society. Men face a great deal of burden and responsibility toward women and toward their families. They are brought up with the idea that they have to do everything from holding doors, paying for dinner dates, and providing for their families. I think the burdens that men carry and the way they are brought up in society may make them less inclined to be empathetic. This decreased capacity could possibly make men more likely to reach a state of compassion fatigue. However, this is all pure conjecture. We often make assumptions about men and women when the lines between the genders are really much more blurry than solid.
I'm just going to follow up on Professor Reitz's sensitive observation that in general, we all suffer from compassion fatigue: We get inured by the social suffering in our midst (from the aftermaths of "unnatural" disasters like Katrina to homelessness on NYC streets and more). We get accustomed to it, accommodate to it. It gets easier and easier to accept pat yet wrong-headed explanations for all that suffering and despair (the problem is in them--the sufferers--not in the systems that produce and reproduce it; the "fix" is all directed at "them" too--let's patch them up and leave the systems that produce and reproduce the problems as they are, the status quo).
The structural violence gets normalized and we think it's just natural, the way things just are, unchangeable.
Of course, that's not true--structural change only appears unmovable. Nothing is written in stone.
I wish we could have a discussion that's focused on what energizes us (under what circumstances and conditions do we get energized?), what gets us going, what keeps us going? If it's "energy" that combats "compassion fatigue" then maybe we can spend some time identifying what, specifically, constitutes that energy.
Does gender play a role in susceptibility to compassion fatigued?
I was cautious in my decision not to approach this question with a “yes of course”! I can’t quite wrap my head around the idea that women have a greater susceptibility to compassion fatigue than men given “unbiased circumstances”. I do agree with professor Reitz that there’s a possibility that women have a head start due to some feeling of powerlessness in society. However, I think this statement can only be a validated given an applicable situation. I don’t think that women are any more susceptible to being compassionate to the victims of Haiti, New Orleans, or Katrina in and of its self. I do believe that a woman could be more susceptible to compassion fatigue in situations of domestic violence (against women), or any types of situations directly triggering maternal instincts (Mother loosing son, mother loosing entire family but surviving, women being victims of rape etc…) Educating people is always the first step in bettering the ills of the world. I think in a way a person that hasn’t experienced some form of compassion fatigue is aware of where their limit is in the broader picture they wish to take part in creating, but could this be an even bigger problem?
I suppose educating yourself on what the symptoms of compassion fatigue will help, but other than that what can you do? I mean I personally agree with Professor Stein when she said that if you don’t feel comfortable with working with a certain group of people, like heroin addicts, then you should not do it. I believe a major role in burnout is if you have passion for that line of work, if you don’t what is the point working where you are not comfortable? But maybe the same might be for social workers, if you can’t feel anything for the population you are working for you are not doing them any good. I believe that there is a time for objectivity and subjectivity. When you are dealing with people you should be subjective, you should have compassion, no matter what your gender. Men and women handle problems differently, that doesn’t mean that women are the ones who are more susceptible. That is like saying that men have some innate power of emotional control, something that poor weak women don’t have. Maybe I am being too much of a feminist. However, Lisa did make a point; there are more women in social work so maybe that is why it appears that they are more likely to face compassion fatigue.
Professor Reits, you asked, if we need to take into account perhaps a larger sense of powerlessness that women experience in society that might give them some head start toward compassion fatigue? The denial of opportunity and starting from the bottom and continuously seeing others like you not motivated or succeeding does ware on your compassion. I don’t think though that it is just females, even though we are a marginalized sex. I believe it is a factor of who you are and what have you experienced. If we examine gender, then we must also look at race and class.
Regeneration can only be found in hope, if you try to be optimistic and think everything will in some way get better. We can’t always have rainy days, and those rainy days in turn help us appreciate the sunny ones. Tragedies happen, it is a part of life, and as a society we cannot let it overwhelm us. I think it is up to us to be aware and do what we can, obviously no one person can concentrate on all the tragedies that goes on around the world. But collectively if we all listen and are aware and help at least one out, then we are helping the world.
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