1. Self Care and Burnout of Female Clinicians: Societies Impact
Since we were small children, many individuals (our parents, society, and teachers) accentuate the need for us women to be nurturing, passive caregivers. Young girls are given strong messages such as “good girls don’t get angry” and “nice girls always put their guests in front of themselves”. These messages create a cycle where women begin to feel they must always be meeting the needs of others, even if it is detrimental to their own physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. When a woman takes care of herself she is labeled as “selfish” or “uncaring”, ignoring the social realities that make these statements possible.
Since we were small children, many individuals (our parents, society, and teachers) accentuate the need for us women to be nurturing, passive caregivers. Young girls are given strong messages such as “good girls don’t get angry” and “nice girls always put their guests in front of themselves”. These messages create a cycle where women begin to feel they must always be meeting the needs of others, even if it is detrimental to their own physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. When a woman takes care of herself she is labeled as “selfish” or “uncaring”, ignoring the social realities that make these statements possible.
), burnout is a syndrome characterized
by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization of clients,
and a lack of a sense of personal accomplishment.
Since we were small children, many individuals (our parents, society, and teachers) accentuate the need for us women to be nurturing, passive caregivers. Young girls are given strong messages such as “good girls don’t get angry” and “nice girls always put their guests in front of themselves”. These messages create a cycle where women begin to feel they must always be meeting the needs of others, even if it is detrimental to their own physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. When a woman takes care of herself she is labeled as “selfish” or “uncaring”, ignoring the social realities that make these statements possible.
Self Care and Burnout of Female Clinicians: Societies Impact
Byczek, S.R., Leggett. D.
INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
THE MESSAGE
BURNOUT VS. VICARIOUS TRAUMA
IMPLICATIONS FOR FEMALE CLINICIANS
From the time we are small children, many individuals (our parents, society, and teachers) accentuate the need for women to be nurturing, passive caregivers. Young girls are given strong messages such as “good girls don’t get angry” and “nice girls always put their guests in front of themselves”. These messages create a cycle where women begin to feel they must always meet the needs of others, even if it is detrimental to their own physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. When a woman takes care of herself she is labeled as “selfish” or “uncaring”, ignoring the social realities that make these statements possible.
These messages emerge from a functional viewpoint as women try to fulfill traditional supportive roles within society as well as assuming well-earned professional roles. The interdependence of societal roles has become unbalanced and the system has not regained equilibrium (Wallace & Wolf, 1999). Women continue to take on additional roles without relinquishing any.
Female therapists are in the unique position of working within these gender roles while trying to balance their increasingly overwhelming caseloads and their personal and familial life. Similar to most professionals, female therapists appear to be forging on through these different roles and continuing to place high priority on productivity and moving up in the field, with little concern for personal well-being.
Although it is desirable to want to get ahead in life, the devaluing of one’s personal needs comes with a cost. Feelings of being overwhelmed and torn in many directions are common complaints. These conditions can have detrimental effects on female therapists increasing the likelihood of them experiencing some form of vicarious trauma or burnout. It is not an issue of when a female therapist will experience burnout, but a question of how long it last and at what cost (Everall & Paulson, 2004).
Burnout has been defined as a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization of clients, and a lack of a sense of personal accomplishment (Leiter & Harvie, 1996).
Vicarious traumatization occurs when the counselor experiences symptoms similar to those of the traumatized client, typically symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. Persons suffering from vicarious trauma have episodes of sadness, depression, sleeplessness, and general anxiety and in some cases may sink into a deep depression and be plagued by dreams, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts similar to what their patients have experienced (Cerney, 1995).
Burnout does not tend to lead to changes in trust, feelings of control, problems with intimacy, safety concerns or intrusive imagery that are experienced by clinicians suffering from vicarious trauma (Rosenbloom, Pratt, & Pearlman, 1995).
Female clinicians need to take time to decompress after trauma sessions to limit the impact of the trauma on their own lives. Current action research involving women in a small community agency focusing on domestic violence demonstrates that women generalize their experiences in therapy to their own lives (Byczek, 2008).
Women must learn to utilize peer support. Clinicians who feel they have someone to talk to are better able to let go of the stress.
Engaging in personal therapy can be vital. It is imperative that women let go of the stigma attached to counseling, and seek the help we so freely give.
Women must advocate for themselves at both the personal and societal levels. Clinicians can take the initiative to set up personal support groups.
Female clinicians must learn to be assertive to protect their personal boundaries. The power inherent in institutions can place a lot of pressure on women. Women must learn to empower themselves and each other to combat these pressures.
REFERENCES
SOCIETIES IMPACT
Byczek, S. R. (2008). Qualitative investigation of therapists’ experience of burnout and vicarious traumatization as a small mental health agency. Unpublished manuscript, Indiana State University.
Cerney, M.S. (1995). Treating the “heroic theaters”. In C.R. Figley (Ed.), Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress (pp ). London: Sage.
Everall, R. D., & Paulson, B. (2004). Burnout and secondary traumatic stress: Impact on ethical behavior. The Canadian Journal of Counseling, 38(1),
Kimmel, M. (2008). The Gendered Society. Oxford University Press.
Leiter, M.P., & Harvie, P.L. (1996). Burnout among mental health workers: A review and a research agenda. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 42,
Rosenbloom, D., Pratt, A., & Pearlman, L.A. (1995). Secondary Traumatic Stress: Self-care Issues for Clinicians, Researchers, and Educators. Baltimore, MD: Sidrand Press.
Wallace, R., & Wolf, A. (1999). Contemporary Sociological Theory, 5th edition: Expanding the Classical Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
U.S. National Center for Education Statistics (1997). The Condition of Education. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 265.
The reality of competition and salary compression for women is a continuing concern. According to the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics (1997) college educated women earn less than men with a high school education. Kimmel (2008) expressed that women earn 62 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterpart.
Women tend to be high in impression management, trying to keep everyone in every area of their life happy. Conflict theory leads us to consider opposing group interests and how they emerge in social conflict (Wallace & Wolf, 1999).
It is interesting how when addressing the distress of colleagues, we tend to focus on the use of individual coping strategies, implying that those who feel traumatized may not be balancing life and work adequately and may not be making effective use of leisure, self-care, or supervision.
Yet as previous research has shown the solution seems more structural than individual.
Organizations need to determine ways of distributing workload in order to limit the traumatic exposure of any one worker.
It would seem a shift is needed from education on vicarious trauma and burnout to advocacy for improved and safer working conditions.