Burnout Vs Compassion Fatigue: Important Differences Explained

Burnout is a feeling of emotional exhaustion resulting from stress, whereas, compassion fatigue is the exhaustion experienced by people who care for other sick or traumatized people over an extended period of time.

Both conditions can certainly co-exist in one person at the same time but burnout and compassion fatigue are not the same thing.

Let’s get straight in to Burnout vs Compassion Fatigue.

Symptoms of Burnout

1. Feeling drained and exhausted during the day.
2. Even though you’ve slept properly, you still wake up in the morning feeling tired.
3. You feel like your energy is being sapped from you throughout the day.
4. Your memory isn’t as reliable as it used to be; remembering where you put things or what you were supposed to do is more difficult.
5. You feel like every task is a monumental undertaking, and it’s hard to get started or even finish what you’re doing.
6. After work, you often feel like staying in bed because nothing seems worthwhile anymore.
7. Your daily schedule has become erratic; an 8 hour sleep followed by a 2 hour nap can be just as normal as sleeping for 8 hours straight.
8. You find yourself avoiding people you would usually enjoy spending time with; even keeping interactions short and ending them early.
9. You’ll often say ‘yes’ to invitations, because you don’t want to disappoint anyone but deep down inside you really wish you could stay at home.
10. You’re feeling exhausted even though you’ve done very little that day.
11. You have the sense that people are somehow looking down on you, criticizing your actions or talking about you behind your back.
12. You feel like you’re moving in slow motion while everyone else is racing around you at top speed.
13. No matter how much sleep you get, you always feel exhausted.
14. You dread going to work or school because it feels like too much effort to get out of bed.
15. You can’t remember the last time you felt rested after a sleep.
16. You feel like there’s something wrong with you but you don’t know

How to Prevent Burnout

Burnout is preventable, but it’s hard. You have to fight against all of your brain’s instincts.

First, our brains are programmed to notice the bad more than the good. If you’re stressed out, everything will seem like a source of stress! This is your amygdala at work, doing its job helping you survive in the wild.

Second, our brains quickly develop addictions, and then fight change. You will need to break bad habits that you have developed over years of “practicing” being stressed out.

Finally, it can be hard to notice when you’re starting to burn out because your rational brain knows the truth but your emotions feel like a steady state of high tension. You’ll have a gut feeling that everything is going to crash at any moment, but you don’t know why.

It’s not enough to tell yourself things will be fine if you just work harder. That might have been true when you were a kid who could stay up all night playing video games and then go to school without sleeping. Those days are over. The best way to avoid burning out is to build a healthy lifestyle, and then to recognize when things are going south.

Symptoms of Compassion Fatigue

Compassion Fatigue is a form of secondary traumatic stress disorder or STSD. People who work in high-pressure, high-tension jobs such as healthcare providers and other responders to emergency situations can suffer from it.

Symptoms look like:

1. You feel guilty about your reactions and thoughts and find yourself thinking that you’re the only one upset by all this.
2. Frequently feeling disrespected by patients and their families.
3. Witnessing others suffering and/or dying can cause you to feel helpless, frustrated or resentful.
4. Having to monitor your own strong emotions so that they don’t interfere with your work may cause you to become emotionally numb.
5. Interactions with patients and their families demands a great deal of emotional energy which can lead to feeling depleted or desensitized.
6. Being exposed to traumatic/graphic details of a patient’s illness can cause you to become emotionally detached.
7. Your work may require you to deal with people who are abusive, hostile and/or trying your patience on a regular basis.
8. Having patients or their families threaten suicide makes it difficult for some care providers to cope.
9. You may be so uncomfortable with death that you push it out of your mind and avoid situations that will remind you of death.
10. Whether your job is in direct patient care, support services or administration/management, these situations can lead to feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and vulnerability.
11. Having strong feelings about people who seem to be experiencing unnecessary suffering may cause you problems with sleep, appetite and libido.
12. You feel like you are constantly under the gun at work and there’s never enough time to complete projects.
13. Being exposed to graphic material during training can adversely affect your ability to relate to patients, their families or colleagues in the future.
14. You begin to feel emotionally numb even when working with people who are experiencing extreme suffering.

The symptoms of compassion fatigue are usually underreported and the person experiencing compassion fatigue might also feel emotionally numb, depersonalized or disconnected from others.

Compassion fatigue is more insidious. It develops over time as a result of caring for others, and the person can’t see it until they are already drained.

How to Prevent Compassion Fatigue?

One way to prevent compassion fatigue is known as Compassionate Communication.

Compassion communication is a way to help staff remain aware of their own reactions and the effects they may have on others.

1. Making sure that staff have a place to blow off steam and talk about their feelings,
2. Informing new staff why others may be crying or laughing out of proportion.
3. Teaching new staff how their emotions can get in the way so they learn to control them.
4. Teaching staff how to be aware of the compassion cycle and that their emotions will fluctuate as a result.
5. Being mindful that your own emotions play a role in the way you communicate with others, so manage those as well.
6. You can also prevent compassion fatigue sometimes by doing things that makes you feel good, like talking about your family members, pets or favorite hobbies.

Burnout vs Compassion Fatigue

What’s the difference between burnout and compassion fatigue?

1. Burnout is triggered by work overload while compassion fatigue develops from emotional labor
2. Compassion fatigue manifests in different ways depending on what type of caregiving you do (medical vs family)
3. Burnout is a refusal to engage with others while compassion fatigue involves deeply engaging in caregiving
4. Compassion fatigue is often the result of unrealistic expectations

People With High Risk For Burnout

Burnout can happen for any kind of profession but it most frequently happens among those who have high power or intense responsibility such as:

1. Doctors.
2. Police officers.
3. Lawyers.
4. High-stake entrepreneurs.
5. Working parents.
6. Workaholics.
7. People who suffer from depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, or another mental illness.
8. People in high-risk positions, such as teachers and nurses.
9. People who work in the food service industry are more susceptible to burnout because they must deal with consumers directly as do customer service workers.
10. Those who have a lack of support from supervisors or co-workers may also find themselves at risk for burnout.

Signs Someone Has Burnout

1. A person with burnout will often feel depleted, drained and exhausted
2. Their work performance will decline. They may have a low sense of personal accomplishment or success
3. They may also neglect other aspects of life such as their relationships, family responsibilities, exercise regime and mental health in order to focus on the work at hand
4. The individual might start feeling hopeless about their career because they are no longer enjoying what they do for a living

Organizational Implications For Those With High Risk Factors For Burnout

It’s important that organizations create policies which balance employee demands so people don’t reach the stages where it becomes too late to change course. These include flexible hours/working from home, scheduling time for exercise, and making sure to take vacations.

People With High Risk For Compassion Fatigue

Some professions where people are more likely to suffer from compassion exhaustion are nurses, physicians assistants, therapists etc.

People suffering from compassion fatigue are typically part of a profession where they work with patients who have multiple chronic diseases or mental disorders. They also experience increased stress and expectations in their workplace.

Nurses – professions like nursing often suffer from burnout because it’s difficult but rewarding job which can take its toll if you don’t know how to cope with your emotions and the emotional needs of others on top as being expected to care for everyone without receiving any support themselves.

Signs Someone Has Compassion Fatigue

If someone is experiencing compassion fatigue, you will notice that they:

1. Feel burdened by the needs of others and depleted after responding to requests for help or emotional support. They may not be able to see a reason why their work should continue.
2. Feel indifferent to the needs or concerns of others, which can lead to burnout. They may not be able to find the energy they need for day-to-day tasks.

How to Prevent Burnout From (Over)-Working

For starters, don’t spend all day on the computer or in front of a screen; get up from time-to-time.

1. Do something else that you enjoy for at least 15 minutes each hour — this might include taking a walk outside.
2. Hit the gym or go for a run to release some endorphins and feel good about yourself.
3. Meditate or do yoga — this will help reduce the anxiety, lower blood pressure, improve memory performance, and generally just make you a better blogger.
4. Schedule social time with friends or family members every day. This will give you the chance to make new connections while giving your brain a break from work/responsibilities.

And finally…

Get enough sleep each night—this is not optional!

Aim for seven hours per night if possible since research has shown that inadequate sleep over an extended period of time can lead to serious health problems that you can easily avoid.