compassion fatigue

1. fatigue, emotional distress, or apathy resulting from the constant demands of caring for others or from constant appeals from charities:

   compassion fatigue experienced by doctors and nurses.

compassion fatigue

noun

1. the inability to react sympathetically to a crisis, disaster, etc, because of overexposure to previous crises, disasters, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of compassion fatigue¹

1980–85, Americanism

Example Sentences

By prioritizing your needs, you also make it more likely that when the time comes to support someone else who is struggling, you will have more emotional energy to provide and reduce the risk of compassion fatigue.

From Salon

As clinics and providers in surge and blue states struggle to provide care, some of them are also struggling themselves with burn-out and compassion fatigue.

From Salon

“We're sitting here trying to navigate this space and realizing that we can't stop because people need us, while navigating our own grief, wondering how much of the constant stress and compassion fatigue of this job contribute to this?”

From Salon

The idea started at an animal research conference I attended about 5 years ago, when I heard the phrase “compassion fatigue” mentioned for the first time.

From Science Magazine

But as many as nine in 10 people in the animal care field, from cage cleaners to veterinarians who oversee entire animal facilities, will suffer from compassion fatigue at some point during their careers, more than twice the rate of those who work in hospital intensive care units.

From Science Magazine