NJ Psychologist
Burnout Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Traumatic Stress, & Vital Exhaustion: Effects, Treatment, and Implications for COVID-19 (1 CE Credit)
Introduction By, Aaron Gubi, PhD
What is Burnout? “As a metaphor for the draining of energy, burnout refers to the smothering of a fire or the extinguishing of a candle. It implies that once a fire was burning but the fire cannot continue burning brightly unless there are sufficient resources that keep being replenished.” (Schaufeli et al. 2009)
The special section this issue is intended to disseminate information regarding burnout as it pertains to psychologists, related health care workers, parents, and clients. In particular, the implications of COVID-19, as it pertains to compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vital exhaustion and how they challenge healthy coping is assessed. The article concludes by examining psychological interventions and evidence-based practices that psychologists can utilize in their work with clients to prevent burnout and promote well-being. We thank Lorraine Gahles-Kildow, PhD, for her comprehensive examination of this topic in her article Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Vital Exhaustion: Effects, Treatment, and Implications for COVID-19.
Burnout as a concept has been around for several decades. In an overview of the concept of burnout, Schaufeli et al. 2009 trace the early history of this phenomenon. It was originally borrowed from a term used by drug addicts in the 1970s (Freudenberger, 1974) and was made more prominent when Maslach (1996) identified three distinct factors that comprised burnout. These factors were: 1) emotional exhaustion, 2) depersonalization, and 3) a reduced sense of personal accomplishment or efficacy (Maslach and Jackson, 1981; Maslach et al., 2008).
Aaron Gubi, PhD is a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist. He is an assistant professor and serves as Clinic Director of Kean Psychological Services, the community training clinic for the Doctoral Program (PsyD) in Combined School-Clinical Psychology at Kean University. He also holds part-time positions with a private practice and an adolescent residential treatment facility, and currently serves as the editor of the NJ Psychologist.
At first, burnout was considered to occur only when working with people, especially in healthcare and human service occupations. Later, people began to realize that these three factors could occur in other occupations and research in organizations began to explore the concept that chronic stress on the job could result in burnout. The persistence of burnout as a phenomena was explained by Maslach et al. in
Earn 1 CE credit when you read this article and complete the CE evaluation. Instructions for obtaining CE credit: Visit www.psychologynj. org and find the CE Homestudy Library link under the Learn Tab.
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