CherryBombSenior Contributor
Compassion fatigue: When caring hurts too much
While caring for others usually comes from a place of compassion, over long periods of time, it can lead to compassion fatigue - feeling tired, angry and powerless, and sometimes going into dissaosciative states. A lot of stuff out there, like this article talks about how health professionals can experience a range of different symptoms. But compassion fatigue is not restricted to carers - they usually don't have a personal connection nor do they live the people they care for like many on us here.
One of our forum members, Jo, talks about disassocation here, she describes it as "a state that one can slip into when the stress and burn-out becomes too much. You go into 'automatic', carrying out everything you have to do and what's expected of you, but it's as if you're in a sort of dream state.' Has anyone experienced this? Or are you feeling burnt-out?"
This article explains that compassion fatigue can commonly occur due to "other-directed care giving" in which people "were taught at an early age to care for the needs of others before caring for their own needs."
@Cazzie @Former-Member @BeHappy @Snoo @Louise last week we spoke about feeling tired. I'm wondering what are people thoughts on this? Do you agree that there are patterns in your life that have taught you to put other people's needs before your own?
@countrymum you have spoken about the difficulties of caring for your son too much with the heart. Looking back is compassion fatigue something you can relate to?
@maddison you're currently caring for your housemate, any thoughts on this?
Looking forward to hearing people's thoughts on this,
CB
