Combating Compassion Fatigue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Combating Compassion Fatigue - Essay Example Work related signs of compassion fatigue include frequent absenteeism from work, reduced empathy towards the patients and avoidance in dealing with certain patients. Serious signs of compassion fatigue include feelings of hopelessness, low self-esteem, gastrointestinal complaints, and hypertension (Miller, 2012). Physical exhaustion that is also referred as burnout is an initial sign of compassion fatigue. Some signs of physical exhaustion include irritability, feelings of anxiety and excessive emotional numbness. Other signs that accompany burnout include difficulty in sleeping and reduced empathy. Some causes of burnout include the attitudes towards work such as the caregiver’s beliefs and attitudes towards the complex patients and lack of peer support (Hayes, 2009). This phase is usually preceded by idealism whereby the caregiver is always committed to working hard with little time for relaxation. The caregiver usually accepts many responsibilities and forms close relations hips with peers. The physical exhaustion is evidenced by both emotional and behavioral symptoms of the caregiver. The emotional signs include a decline in the sense of accomplishment while behavioral signs include withdrawal from responsibilities and alcohol abuse (Figley, 2002). The second concept of compassion fatigue is characterized by emotional exhaustion. Some warning signs include unreasonable expectations, and lack of emotional control whereby the caregiver is easily frustrated by lack of money or difficult patients (Figley, 2002). The caregiver usually experiences nightmares, and increased psychological arousal that leads to grief and sadness. Some other visible signs include changes in assumptions, decline in intimacy and detachment from social groups (Figley, 2002). The other concept of compassion fatigue is apathy which is the lack of interests or concern for patients or family members. The caregiver usually feels hopeless and isolated from the rest of society (Miller, 2 012). The caregiver will exhibit an active avoidance of all care giving situations and emotional disengagement even towards close relatives like spouses. The fourth concept of compassion fatigue for caregivers is depression. This is mainly caused by traumatic memories. Some warning signs of depression include constant memory flashbacks of traumatic events, feeling cynical, difficulties in sleeping and irritability of the caregiver (Figley, 2002). The last concept of compassion fatigue for caregivers is impaired judgment (Miller, 2012). Some warning signs for impaired judgment of the caregiver include constant absenteeism from work, low self-esteem and avoiding attending to difficult patients. Physical exhaustion and emotional disillusionment coupled with negative attitudes towards work will contribute to impaired judgment of the caregiver. The long-term effects of compassion fatigue include drug and alcohol abuse, diminished sense of personal accomplishments and reduced sense of per sonal control and safety (Figley, 2002). The caregiver may also experience somatic symptoms such as sweating, pains, headaches, and impaired immune system (Hayes, 2009). Some of causes of physical exhaustion include stressful work whereby the caregiver tries to accomplish many roles within limited resources. Other causes include

Katherine Anne Porter Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Katherine Anne Porter - Research Paper Example She spent almost a century long life during which she bestowed several outstanding literary pieces to the American literature. She was awarded with several prizes in her life and even after her death people remember and appraise her through different nominations and awards. She was awarded with the Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for her work The Collected Stories published in 1965. The same collection won him the National Book Award in 1966. In 2967 she was awarded with the Gold Medal Award for Fiction by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature for three times. On May15, 2006 she was featured on the United States postage stamp after which she became the 22nd personality to be features in the Literary Arts stamp series (Bloom, p3). Anne Porter was born on May 15, 1980 in Indian Creek Texas. She was named as Callie Russell Porter. Her mother was dead when she was just two years old. She lived with her grandmother Catherine Ann for some years and after her death she moved with her family to different relatives and rental rooms in Texas and Louisiana (Porter and Givner, p2). The personality of grandmother had very strong impact upon the life of Porter and she always reflect love and affection for her grandmother. She changed her name to adopt the name of her grandmother and renamed her as Katherine Anne Porter (Benedict West, p12). Her childhood was spent moving from one place to another with the family and her education was also affected from this movement. She enrolled in different free schools wherever the family moves. In 1904 she attended the Thomas School for one year in Texas that was her only formal education beyond the grammar school. In 1906, she was sixteen when she left her home to marry son of a wealthy ranching family John Henry Koontz however, the marriage turned out painful experience for her because Koontz physically abused her and once drunk he also threw her down the stairs (Porter and Givner, p2 ). Her ankle was broke in this incident and nine years after the marriage they were officially divorced in 1915. She married again for some times but none of her marriages lasted for long time. She never had children but she went through the painful experiences of abortion, miscarriage and stillbirth (Stout, p32). In 1915, she moved to Chicago where she worked as extra in movies and then starter her career as singer and actress. In 1915, she was also diagnosed with tuberculosis due to which she had to spend two years in sanatoria. This was a turning point in her life because she decided to become a writer and began writing in 1917. She started writing for Fort Worth Critic in which she review and criticize dramas and write social gossips. In 1918, she started writing for Rocky Mountain News. The same year she deadly suffered with flu during which she remained in hospital for month. When she was discharged she was completely bald and frail. Her hair grew back in white color and remai ned white for the rest of her life. The time she spent in the hospital provided her with several deep observations and experienced that she later shared in her long story Pale Horse, Pale Rider. She started ghost writing in 1919 when she moved to New York City and initiated writing children stories and publicity work for a motion picture company. At this time she also developed