The Social Psychology of Compassion
“…Compassion is an essential element in effective direct social work practice. In order to help clients, we must develop rapport and empathize with the client (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). Yet, as our hearts go out to our clients through our sustained compassion, our hearts can give out from fatigue. Over a decade ago, Figley (1995) introduced compassion stress defined as the stress connected with exposure to a sufferer. Compassion fatigue is a direct result of exposure to client suffering and complicated by a lack of support in the workplace and at home (Figley, 1995). Social workers take on their clients’ problems leading to mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion and feelings of hopelessness and disconnection from others (Figley, 1993).” Read the full article
This article is written by Prof. Charles R. Figley, Ph.D., the Paul Henry Kurzweg, MD Distinguished Chair in Disaster Mental Health at Tulane University and School of Social Work Professor and Associate Dean for Research. Email: Figley@Tulane.edu Web: charlesfigley.com. Google Scholar Page: http://bit.ly/1k0MjKE. This article is also written by M. Radey College of Social Work, Florida State University, Tallahassee,FL 32306, USA e-mail: mradey@mailer.fsu.edu