You are right. Compassion fatigue occurs only in the helping professions. The term is quite often used interchangably with stress related conditions. This is very much similar to as in case of use of constructs like subjective well-being, psychological well-being, life satisfaction, happiness etc. 

Thank you Sarita for sharing your thoughts. The problem with not using consistent terminology is that it makes the phenomenon difficult to research in a way that will help those needing support to develop meaningful change. One study does not build on the other unless researchers use consistent language. Wouldn't it enhance research if we traced the phenomena from their roots? The same problem was difficult for those researching spirituality until the term spiritual was defined properly. It took me months trying to sort the problem with CF and still have to analyze each study I cite carefully to make sure it meets my definitions. 

Do you have a publication that clearly deliniates these terms?  I teach a course in the graduate victimology program at Algonquin College that covers compassion fatigue, burnout, vicarious trauma and vicarious resilience.  I agree that these terms tend to be used too loosely and interchangeably.

Hi Benjamin,

That sounds like a great class. I hope you are enjoying teaching it and the students are learning from the exposure. I keep reading Figley, Stamm, and other originals and about the time I believe the definition is clear and I have a way of defining each term one of the original researchers goes back and seemingly contradicts himself. I don't mean the collective him it is the correct pronoun, in this case. I'm open to a hint. Thanks for your contribution. 

Thank you all for the great discussion points. I agree very much CF is not well defined. The work that I am currently doing is using the ProQoL scale to measure CF. We are just beginning to analyze the data. So Stay tuned. We have 293 participates -- I am on the edge of my seat waiting to find out the results. Thank you all and have a compassion fatigueless day! :-)

It will be fun to look at our collected data to see how they compare or enhance each other's work.

I agree that there needs to be standardized language for these phenomenons. This is what I have gathered from my research; these are excerpts from a paper I wrote regarding my personal experience with compassion fatigue:

In his book, Compassion Fatigue in the Animal Care Community, Dr. Charles Figley breaks down the term “Compassion Fatigue”: “Compassion … [is] a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. It is a kind of focused, action-oriented empathy. Fatigue … is the mental weariness resulting from exertion that is associated with attending to the emotional and physical pain of others” (Figley & Roop, 2006). Compassion Fatigue (CF) was originally known as Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). In 1995, Charles Figley suggested renaming Secondary Traumatic Stress “Compassion Fatigue” (Figley, 1995) in order to avoid the stigma STS has in association with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Jenkins & Baird, 2002). CF is also known as “vicarious traumatization” (Zimering & Gulliver, 2003), a cogent term which implies that the trauma is being experienced vicariously by another person.

Compassion Fatigue is an accumulation of trauma-related symptoms which are initiated by traumatic events experienced vicariously. Those symptoms, combined with empathy for the victim, result in “fatigue” from caring so much. In other words, CF occurs when a person empathizes with the victims of trauma and internalizes their fear, horror, pain, and feelings of helplessness.

Compassion Fatigue is often confused with work or workplace burnout since it can appear and feel the same (Rank, Zaparanick, & Gentry, 2009). Actually, CF is “a form of burnout and PTSD” (Figley & Roop, 2006). Burnout is defined as: A “cumulative process marked by emotional exhaustion and withdrawal associated with increased workload and institutional stress, NOT trauma-related” (American Institute of Stress). In other words, burnout differs from CF in that the worker experiences exhaustion caused by various work-related stressors but not by experiencing a traumatic event either personally or vicariously. Additionally, when one reaches burnout, it’s generally too late. By that point, the symptoms have been missed as has the opportunity to do anything about them.

References

American Institute of Stress. (n.d.). Compassion Fatigue. Retrieved from American Institute for Stress: http://www.stress.org/military/for-practitionersleaders/compassion-fatigue/

Figley, C. R. (1995). Compassion fatigue as secondary traumatic stress disorder: An overview. In C. R. Figley, Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized (pp. 1-20). Philadelphia, PA, US: Brunner/Mazel.

Figley, C. R., & Roop, R. G. (2006). Compassion Fatigue in the Animal Care Community. Washington, D.C.: Humane Society Press

Jenkins, S., & Baird, S. (2002, October). Secondary Traumatic Stress and Vicarious Trauma: A Validational Study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15(2), 423-432.

Rank, M., Zaparanick, T., & Gentry, J. (2009). Nonhuman-Animal Care Compassion Fatigue: Training as Treatment. Best Practice in Mental Health, 5(2), 40-61.

Zimering, R., & Gulliver, S. B. (2003, April 1). Secondary Traumatization in Mental Health Care Providers. Retrieved from Psychiatric Times: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/ptsd/secondary-traumatization-mental-health-care-providers

Also termed “vicarious traumatization” or secondary traumatization (Figley, 1995). Themot

This paper proposes a solution that I have been usingto declutter the sts, vt, and cf confusion...

Molnar, B., Sprang, G., Killian, K., Gottfried, R., Emery, V., & Bride, B. (2017). Advancing science and practice for vicarious traumatization/secondary traumatic stress: A research agenda. Traumatology, 23(2), 129-142. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000122

CF is an early terminology of STS. STS affects "helpers" in two aspects, emotionally and behaviorally. VT on the other hand, affects "helpers" cognitively. Burnout might include all of the above or only part of it, but the most salient factor the differentiate burnout from the other terms is the indifference, neglect and lack of professionalism among "helpers" who might put their clients at some risk due to their burnout. You can also check my article on rape crisis and trauma contagion for extended definitions. Hope this helps.