Compassion Warriors

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The term compassion fatigue was coined in 1992 by Carla Joinson to describe the trauma that nurses were experiencing with day in and day out patient care. It quickly became widely accepted and books, blogs and speeches flowed. Compassion fatigue was the buzz phrase to explain why professionals were leaving their profession of serving others in serious need at alarming rates. 

However, recently, great controversy has emerged about this phrase. Let’s take a step back to understand all of these words first. Sympathy is caring about someone’s emotions. Empathy is taking on another’s emotions whether it is cognitive empathy, wanting to intellectually understand the emotions, or emotional empathy, feeling the emotions of another. And compassion is taking that empathy and turning it into action to relieve any suffering of another. So if we look at it this way, empathy is the feeling and compassion is the action. While not interchangeable, they are interwoven. We cannot have compassion without empathy. 

Published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal, Trisha Dowling, interestingly calls compassion fatigue a misnomer. Her theory, based on research by Dr. Tania Singer of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany, suggests that compassion is neurologically rejuvenating. When we feel compassion, it releases helpful and “feel good” neuropeptides. This research is brilliant. It does feel good to help others and I dare say, this is why we all suffered through our extreme schooling. It feels great until one day it doesn’t. And doing one more thing for one more person feels like climbing Mt. Everest. Our ability to do has become exhausted.

Veterinarians are compassion warriors. Compassion worker is just inadequate. I mean, literally, a veterinarian’s entire job is to relieve the suffering of animals. Certainly we could rename our professionals, compassionarians. We don’t hang out our shingle to listen to the ailments of precious pets just to tell their guardians how much we hurt for them. No. We act on this and we work tirelessly to relieve that suffering. We are compassion warriors. 

But what is happening in our profession is alarming. Veterinarian after veterinarian is walking away, selling to corporate or horrifically, committing suicide. I sold to corporate and I walked away. I spent my entire adult life building that beautiful, heart centered dream. It was my first born child and I walked away. And perhaps that was my destiny, but I didn’t have the tools to navigate the fatigue and base my decision armed with knowledge. I left because it was literally the only thing I could do to save myself. Walking away is ceasing to perform action relieving suffering, therefore, compassion fatigue. I didn’t lose my ability to feel pain for those pets, I lost my ability to act on it and help them. But if I would have stayed and worked beyond the compassion fatigue, grinding it out day after day, ultimately I would have lost the ability to feel empathy and this is the most devastating loss of all. How can we take care of our patients or ourselves when we no longer have the ability to care, to feel, or to hope?

Remember when you first graduated and you practically leapt out of bed to get to the appointments? Each day brought a new set of challenges and rewards. We put that white coat on and felt powerful. We will make a difference in the world today. But what we were not taught in vet school was just how much our clients would lean on us, how much we would grow to bond with families and their pets and grieve when they grieved. We know our clients by name. We are invited to weddings and births and funerals. Suddenly, the alarm goes off in the morning and the thought of getting out of bed is overwhelming. This, my dear friend, is the first sign of compassion fatigue. By the time you have all the signs listed on google, fatigue has settled into your mind, your body and your spirit and your empathy is in danger. 

But we are reluctant to tell others of our suffering. So we get up and get to work, over and over, and we push down the fatigue. We fool ourselves into thinking this is the price to pay for the long term gain. Now imagine that your client or even a friend comes to you and tells you a similar story. What would your advice be to him or her? So why can we not look in the mirror and give ourselves that same advice? Maybe admitting it to ourselves is the first step. We have been programmed to be warriors – courageous and fearless fighters who are persistently prepared for battle both mentally and physically, taking responsibilities seriously, and taking great pride in putting ourselves last making any necessary sacrifices. 

So how can we change? Subscribe to The Veterinary Compassion Fatigue Project as I release the program that just may be what you’re looking for. Follow my YouTube channel @TVCFP to start the discussion of compassion fatigue. And share this with anyone that you think may need help.

With love and hope, 

Dr. Erin Holder