Moving from compassion fatigue to compassion resilience Part 3: Causes of compassion fatigue

摘要

Having previously focused on the significance of compassion (1) and understanding compassion fatigue (2), this article focuses on the causes of compassion fatigue, specifically the many realities of life in clinical practice that can make veterinary caregivers so susceptible. For those who work in clinical practice, these realities will come as no surprise. What may come as a surprise, however, is the range of stressors that can culminate as compassion fatigue. Interwoven within any one scenario may be an intricate variety of stressors, making what may seem on the surface as simple and straightforward, actually quite complex. When caught up in the moment, or busily moving through the day, we may not realize the extent to which we are challenged — physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially, and even morally. To engage in veterinary caregiving is, quite simply, to engage with complexity. We attend to imperatives from countless directions, some obvious and many less so, but all of which can be sources of stress — stress that can culminate as compassion fatigue.