Help I'm Burnt Out!

Vicarious Victimization, Secondary Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Compassion Fatigue . . .

© (1996) Victoria Polin, MA, ATR, LCPC

Questionnaire

Directions:  Circle either true or false to each of the questions listed below. You will not have to show this to anyone.

1.  T   F    Have you or one of your clients experienced intense fear(s) at work?

2.  T   F    Have you been experiencing feelings of helplessness while working with clients?

3.  T   F    Has anyone threatened your own personal safety on the job?

4.  T   F    Has any of your clients safety been in jeopardy?

5.  T  F    Are you preoccupied with recollections, images or thoughts that are related to your job?

6.  T  F    Do you have disturbing dreams relating to work?

7.  T  F    Do things trigger you at work that bring on thoughts that are disturbing?

8.  T  F    Do you avoid activities, places, people that remind you of the work you do?

9.  T  F    At times do you forget important facts relating to work?

10. T   F   Do you have a tendency to avoid certain activities you use to enjoy?

11. T  F    Do you feel detached and/or estranged from your co-workers?

12. T  F    Do you have trouble feeling your feeling, or avoid feeling them?

13. T  F    Do you feel like you will not have a normal life span?

14. T  F    Do you have trouble going to sleep/staying asleep at night?

15. T  F    Have you noticed an increase in irritability or outbursts of anger?

16. T  F    Is there a change in your ability to concentrate?

17. T  F    Are you startled easily?

Problem:

Burnt Out - A failure in a device attributable termination to burning, excessive heat, or friction. Physical or emotional exhaustion, especially as a result of long-term stress. One who is burnt out, as from long-term stress.

Vicarious - Endured or done by one person substituting for another. 2. Acting in place of someone or something else. 3. Felt or undergone as if one were taking part in the experience or feelings of another. 4. Occurring in or performed by a part of the body not normally associated with a certain function(s).

Victimization - To subject to swindle or fraud. To make a victim of.

Compassion - The deep feelings of sharing the suffering of another, together with the inclinations to give aid or support or to show mercy.

Fatigue - Physical or mental weariness resulting from exertion. 2. Tiring of effort or activity; labor. 3. The decrease capacity or complete inability of an organism, origin, or part to function normally because of an excessive stimulation or prolonged exertion. 4. Weakness in material, such as metal or wood, resulting from prolonged stress. To tire-out; exhaust.

Solution:

Fun - A source of enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure. Playful and often noisy activity. To behave playfully; joke.

Humor - The quality of being amusing or comicical. The ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is comical or funny.

To Laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To Weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To Reach out for another is to risk exposing yourself to hurt.

To Love is to risk not being loved in return.

To Live is to risk dying.

To Hope is to risk despair.

To Try is to risk failure

But RISK must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to RISK nothing --- The person who RISKS nothing, DOES NOTHING and IS NOTHING. He/She may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he/she simply can not LEARN, FEEL, CHANGE, GROW, LOVE, LIVE. Chained by his/her certitude he/she is a slave, he/she has forfeited FREEDOM. Only A PERSON WHO RISKS IS FREE. ONLY A PERSON WHO RISKS IS FREE!

(1994) American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition

A. the person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both the following were present:

1. The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others.

2. The person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror.

Note: in children, this may be expressed instead by disorganized or agitated behavior.

B. The Traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in one (or more) of the following ways:

1. Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. Note: In young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed.

2. Recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: In children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content.

3. Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur on awakening or when intoxicated). Note: In young children trauma-specific reenactment may occur.

4. intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

5. Physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

C. Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

1. Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma.

2. Efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma.

3. Inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma.

4. Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities.

5. Feeling of detachment or estrangement from others.

6. restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings).

7. Sense of a foreshortened future (e.g. does not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life span).

D. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by two (or more) of the following:

1. Difficulty falling or staying asleep.

2. Irritability or outbursts of anger.

3. Difficulty concentrating.

4. Hyper vigilance.

5. Exaggerated startle response.

E. Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in Criteria B, C, and D) is more than 1 month

F. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Specify if:

Acute: if duration of symptoms is less than 3 months

Chronic: if duration of symptoms is 3 months or more.

Specify if:

With Delayed Onset: if onset of symptoms is at least 6 months after the stressor.

Last Updated:  04/03/2003

--Margaret Mead