Compassion Fatigue (Psychosocial Stress Series) - Hardcover

Figley, Charles R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0876307594 ISBN 13: 9780876307595

Publisher: Routledge, 1995

Synopsis

First published in 1995. Traumatology, or the field of traumatic stress studies, has become a dominant focus of interest in the mental health fields only in the past decade. Yet the origin of the study of human reactions to traumatic events can be traced to the earliest medical writings in Kunus Pyprus, published in 1900 B.C. in Egypt. Many factors account for the recent emergence of this field, including a growing awareness of the long-term consequences of shocking events. Among these consequences are violence toward others, extraordinary depression, dysfunctional behavior, and a plethora of medical maladies associated with emotional stress. This is the latest in a series of books that have focused on the immediate and long-term consequences of highly stressful events. The purposes of the book, then, are (a) to introduce the concept of compassion fatigue as a natural and disruptive by-product of working with traumatized and troubled clients; (b) to provide a theoretical basis for the assessment and treatment of compassion stress and compassion fatigue: (c) to explain the difference between compassion fatigue and PTSD, burnout, and countertransference; (d) to identify innovative methods for treating compassion fatigue in therapists, and (e) to suggest methods for preventing compassion fatigue.

About this title

About the Author

Charles R. Figley

From the Back Cover

Compassion Fatigue focuses on those individuals who provide therapy to victims of PTSD - crisis and trauma counselors, Red Cross workers, nurses, doctors, and other caregivers who themselves often become victim to secondary traumatic stress disorder (STSD) or "compassion fatigue" as a result of helping or wanting to help a traumatized person. Edited by Charles R. Figley, a renowned pioneer in the field of traumatic stress studies, this book consists of eleven chapters, each written by a different specialist in the field. It addresses such questions as: What are compassion stress and compassion fatigue? What are the unintended, and often unexpected, deleterious effects of providing help to traumatized people? What are some examples of cases in which individuals were traumatized by helping, and how were they traumatized? What are the characteristics of the traumatized caregiver (e.g., race, gender, ethnicity, age, interpersonal competence, experience with psychological trauma) that account for the development, sustenance, preventability, and treatability of secondary traumatization? Is there a way to theoretically account for all these factors? What are the characteristics of effective programs to prevent or ameliorate compassion stress and its unwanted consequences?

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0876307594
• ISBN 13: 9780876307595
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 292