Have you ever suffered from compassion fatigue?

As a Doctor, have you ever suffered from compassion fatigue?

It’s common isn’t it?

Fusion with the stories and feelings of others can be very helpful from an empathy point of view, but too much can be very painful and unhelpful.

So there are a number of options for you to consider.

1. Learn more skills around defusion to balance the fusion. Learning how to hold space for the negative emotions of others through care and compassion. Not too close but not too far either.

2. Find areas of medicine with less “painful narratives” or “painful emotions” but be careful not to fall into the traps of avoidance. This may not solve your problem holistically.

3. Learn to coach rather than rescue to minimize the Karpman’s drama triangle.

4. A combination of all the above.