Right now, there are a lot of demands on our ability to feel for others: A global pandemic that has claimed well over 100,000 lives in the U.S. thus far. Continuing protests against police brutality and systemic racism. An unemployment rate that might not return to pre-pandemic levels for the better part of a decade. The fact that, even amidst all this turmoil, global temperatures are still rising.
Caring about any — or all — of that comes with a cost. For academics and clinicians, that toll is known as compassion fatigue. Psychologist Charles Figley defines the concept of compassion fatigue as “a state of exhaustion and dysfunction biologically, psychologically and socially as a result of prolonged exposure to compassion stress and all it invokes.” In other words, it’s the long-term consequences of caring for someone in pain — and potentially taking on some of their suffering in the process.
...
