Signs of Therapist Burnout: Symptoms, Compassion Fatigue, and the Experience of Burnout in Professional Counselors
As a therapist, the term "burnout" might resonate with you on a profound level. While the concept of self-care is ingrained in your training, it's often easier said than done. What does self-care mean in the context of your demanding profession? How can you recognize the symptoms of therapist burnout and address them effectively?
Understanding Burnout in Therapists
Burnout in therapists is a shared concern that transcends individual experiences. It manifests in various ways, from compassion fatigue vs burnout to the overwhelming feeling of dragging yourself out of bed each morning to face your clients. As anxiety and mental health issues rise, the very essence of your role as a healer can be overshadowed by your own emotional struggles.
Defining self-care can be elusive, but it's essential for mental health professionals. It's more than just indulging in occasional treats or vacations; it's about actively nurturing your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. It's the deliberate practice of refueling your emotional reserves so you can continue to provide the mental health services your clients need.
Therapist Burnout and Compassion Fatigue
Within the realm of therapy and caregiving, the terms compassion fatigue and burnout often surface, each representing distinct aspects of the emotional toll that can accompany such work. While they share similarities, they also possess unique characteristics that differentiate them in terms of origin, impact, and response.
Burnout can be likened to a gradual erosion of emotional and mental reserves. It results from prolonged exposure to stressors, long hours, work demands, and environmental factors that lead to emotional exhaustion, detachment, and reduced professional efficacy. Burnout often stems from feelings of being overwhelmed, disengaged, and fatigued in the workplace.
Compassion fatigue, on the other hand, is closely linked to exposure to trauma and suffering experienced by clients. This phenomenon arises from the emotional strain of consistently engaging with individuals who are undergoing traumatic experiences. The empathetic resonance that therapists experience can lead to emotional stress, as they internalize the pain and distress of those they serve.
Compassion fatigue is often referred to as "empathy fatigue" precisely because it's fueled by the empathetic connection therapists form with their clients. This deep connection, while essential for effective therapy, also exposes therapists to a heightened risk of emotional exhaustion and a sense of overwhelm.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of therapist burnout, you’re most likely also going through compassion fatigue, but not necessarily the other way around. You can experience burnout without compassion fatigue. It's important to recognize that burnout and compassion fatigue can intersect. The cumulative emotional strain of working with traumatized clients can contribute to burnout among mental health professionals over time. The constant exposure to trauma can accelerate the onset of emotional exhaustion, detachment, and decreased job satisfaction that are characteristic of burnout.
Recognizing Burnout Symptoms
As therapists, you try hard to make sure you’re as empathetically available to your clients as possible. The problem is that you only have so much to give. You need to protect yourself from compassion fatigue and burnout because once they start, they actually make you less effective at your job. It’s weird, isn’t it? Being too compassionate and empathetic actually makes you a less effective therapist.
Some would argue there’s no such thing as being "too empathetic." However, you’ve felt that fatigue before. Maybe you feel it now.
Since compassion fatigue is part of therapist burnout, here are some symptoms of compassion fatigue:
Depression
Anxiety
Change in appetite
Difficulty sleeping
Irritability
Intrusive thoughts or nightmares
Relationship conflicts
Lack of motivation
Unhealthy coping skills (substance use as an example)
Decrease in confidence
Diminished sense of purpose
Feeling the need to work long, hard hours
Does any of this sound like you? We’ve all been there at some point. What’s important is that you don’t let these burnout symptoms derail your life. Recognizing warning signs early can go a long way in preventing burnout and ensuring both your professional life and personal life remain balanced.
Recognizing the Signs of Therapist Burnout
In the landscape of burnout among mental health professionals, therapists stand as unique participants due to the intrinsic nature of their profession. While burnout is common across various industries, therapists face a distinctive set of challenges stemming from the very essence of their work – providing solace and healing to individuals who are grappling with pain, trauma, and emotional distress.
Signs of Therapist Burnout
Therapist burnout symptoms manifest in various ways, from compassion fatigue to the overwhelming feeling of dragging yourself out of bed each morning to face your clients. As anxiety and mental health issues rise, the very essence of your role as a healer can be overshadowed by your own emotional struggles.
Your profound capacity for empathy allows you to connect deeply with your clients. This connection is the bedrock of your therapeutic relationship and can be incredibly healing. However, it also comes with its own set of challenges. The emotional resonance that comes with empathy can be overwhelming, leading to signs of burnout, emotional exhaustion, and a sense of vicarious trauma.
Therapists bear witness to narratives of trauma, grief, and vulnerability that can take a toll over time. Your professional responsibility to hold space for these stories while also providing guidance and support places you at the crossroads of your clients' pain. This exposure heightens the risk of burnout, necessitating a vigilant approach to self-care and emotional boundary-setting.
Preventing and Managing Burnout
Given the intricate nature of burnout in mental health professionals, it's imperative to approach your profession with an informed and strategic mindset. Incorporate self-care for helping professionals as a non-negotiable aspect of your daily routine. This involves:
Setting clear emotional boundaries
Seeking supervision or consultation when faced with challenging cases
Cultivating a support network among fellow professionals
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance
Once you’ve recognized the symptoms of therapist burnout, the next step is doing something about it. Make sure you have your own therapist. Mental health providers know the benefits of therapy, so you probably already know this. But it’s crucial that you see a therapist regularly who can help you navigate stress and burnout.
The Impact of Work-Life Balance on Burnout
You also need to listen to your body. Are you eating well? Are you getting enough sleep? Exercise? Drinking enough water? These things may not seem like enough to prevent burnout, but they add up. If you’re not sleeping well, eating an unhealthy diet, not moving your body, and not getting enough water, you will crash and burn.
If you find yourself getting more irritable or angry than usual, stop and wonder where that’s coming from. Are the kids really making too much noise, or are you so burned out and stressed that every little thing they do gets under your skin?
When you start noticing a decrease in confidence or diminished sense of purpose, pay attention. These could be signs of therapist burnout. And they’re not symptoms to take lightly. If you’re doubting your abilities and your confidence is low, you can’t be an effective therapist. The same goes for feeling a lower sense of purpose. This could lead to job burnout and deep depression that could be difficult to work through.
As a therapist, you know what burnout in the helping professions looks like because you see it in your clients. But it’s so much harder to recognize it in yourself. Once you know the signs, look for them. Check in with yourself periodically and ask, “Am I exhibiting signs of therapist burnout?” If the answer is yes, make a plan with your therapist about how to manage it.
Self-Care Strategies for Therapists
As we all know, self-care is more than scented candles and bubble baths. Although there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those! Self-care is attending to all your needs. Sometimes self-care is saying “no.” Practicing healthy boundaries is a good example of self-care. If you work for a mental health services organization and your supervisor keeps adding clients to your caseload, at some point you need to say, “No, this is too much, I can’t be there for my clients because I have too many.”
It’s not always possible to have that conversation, which is why so many therapists go into private practice. Now, we’re not saying that in order to prevent therapist burnout, you have to go into private practice. But many people who do are taking care of themselves by avoiding the factors contributing to burnout.
Self-care can take many forms, including:
Exercise, meditation, and yoga
Taking vacations or short breaks
Engaging in hobbies
Seeking professional help when needed
Maintaining balance in your personal and professional life
Taking Action Against Burnout
It’s important to plan ahead so that you don’t burn out and have to practice 50 kinds of self-care to get yourself back to feeling like yourself. Schedule time off here and there. Some people like to take all their vacation days and use them at once. Others prefer to pepper in a day or two off every couple of weeks. Give yourself a nice long weekend every now and then.
If you’re in private practice, balance your schedule so that it fits your needs. Maybe you only see clients in the afternoons and evenings if you’re not a morning person. Maybe you only see clients four days a week and give yourself Fridays or Mondays off so you get a three-day weekend. Or perhaps you take Wednesdays off as a nice break in the middle of the week.
Whatever you do, consult with your supervisors and your therapist about whether you’re showing signs of therapist burnout. You don’t have to figure it all out alone.
Final Thoughts on Burnout Prevention
Therapists often experience burnout and compassion fatigue. If you think you’re experiencing symptoms of therapist burnout, we’re here to support you in whatever way we can. The Therapist Network provides an opportunity to make connections with other therapists who are experiencing burnout. Join the Network to build relationships with other therapists. Prevent and overcome burnout—you don’t have to go it alone!
Feb 23, 2022
