How to Escape from Compassion Fatigue

How to Escape from Compassion Fatigue

Preventing exhaustion in psychotherapy and counselling

• the trending topic ‘self-care’
• with case studies, exercieses and instructions for role play


A subject which comes up often in supervision is the feeling of aversion and impatience towards certain patients – this can be an indication of compassion fatigue. You have exhausted your own reserves, your daily work routine is filled with thoughts like ‘oh my goodness, that's not so bad’, instead of being empathic and patient when you are dealing with your patients. It is not possible to treat them in a constructive way. However, being tired of your job, being bored by its repetitiveness – this is taboo for psycho-therapists, but it is not a rare phenomenon. Compassion fatigue may go unnoticed for a long time in the course of doing psychotherapeutic work over many years, but it can also be experienced by younger psychotherapists. The purpose of this textbook is to show you how to escape from this compassion fatigue within the context of achieving effective self-care. After an introduction and overview of the theories concerning compassion fatigue, the practical section provides you with a lot of suggestions and exercises which help you see what you can do about it and where everyone can find their own starting place.


Target group
Psychological and medical psychotherapists, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and other professionals in counselling