In 1992, a nurse named Carla Joinson observed how colleagues in the hospital handled tragedies on a daily basis. She became increasingly concerned over their lack of compassion and published an article about it.
Joinson was the first to give it a name, “compassion fatigue,” which she describes as a type of burnout for caregivers. When constantly faced with suffering and often unable to alleviate it, they became exhausted and their mental and physical health deteriorated. On top of that, their capacity to care for others was also depleted. They cared so much, they could no longer care at all.
Since then, researchers have proved that this is a real condition with real symptoms. Exhaustion, disrupted sleep, anxiety, headaches, irritability, numbness, self-medicating to the point of addiction, a decreased sense of purpose, emotional disconnection and difficulties with personal relationships have all been linked to compassion fatigue.