It’s not always widely talked about, but compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are prevalent and often misunderstood challenges within the animal welfare community. For those of you who dedicate your lives to rescuing, caring for, protecting, and advocating for animals, the emotional toll can sometimes be overwhelming. Witnessing suffering on a daily basis can lead to profound emotional exhaustion, creating a domino effect that can impact other areas of your life. Understanding these conditions and their unique manifestations, especially as it relates to animal welfare is crucial not only for your own wellbeing, but also to make the work sustainable. Compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and PTSD are often used interchangeably, and while these conditions share some commonalities, they also have some distinct differences.
PTSD
PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. While we’re familiar with PTSD among combat soldiers, there are a lot of other sources of trauma that can cause someone to develop the disorder, including natural and man-made disasters, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults. But did you know that trauma resulting from being exposed to animal abuse, neglect, abandonment, and suffering can also lead to PTSD? Symptoms can be debilitating and include intrusive thoughts or flashbacks, emotional numbing, avoidance of reminders of the trauma, hyperarousal, heightened anxiety, and sleep disturbances.
Secondary Traumatic Stress
Secondary traumatic stress (STS) is common among therapists, nurses, police officers, and others in the helping fields who work to protect traumatized people. In the context of animal welfare, STS refers to the emotional anguish resulting from witnessing or hearing about – often repeatedly – the trauma of an animal. The symptoms of STS closely mirror those of PTSD, including intrusive thoughts, avoidance, and hyperarousal. However, while PTSD is considered a mental disorder, STS is not.
Compassion Fatigue
Compassion fatigue is a broader term encompassing both secondary traumatic stress and burnout. It refers to the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of helping others, often leading to a state of emotional depletion. While secondary traumatic stress specifically addresses symptoms related to trauma exposure, compassion fatigue also includes the wear and tear that comes from the chronic stress of caregiving, as well as the struggle with burnout as a consequence of one’s environment (e.g., toxic workplace, lack of resources, understaffing, etc.). Like STS, compassion fatigue is not (yet) considered a diagnosable mental disorder.
What is Trauma?
Anyone who has ever experienced trauma (about 50 percent of women and 60 percent of men) knows that it can shake our confidence and turn our world upside down. According to the American Psychological Association, trauma can be described as “an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster.” But what about trauma that's specific to animal welfare? Let's explore three common types you may encounter during your career.
Primary trauma is an extremely distressing event – possibly even life-threatening – that happens directly to you. Examples include being attacked or bit/scratched by an animal; being involved in a natural or manmade disaster, mass shooting, or act of terrorism at work; being verbally or physically assaulted at work; being involved in a serious accident while at work; or being bullied, harassed, or threatened by the public (e.g., suspects in cruelty cases).
Secondary, or vicarious trauma, describes a type of trauma that you experience indirectly. This may be in the form of hearing about, reading about, or seeing the trauma happening to animals. Common trauma experienced by those involved in animal protection include witnessing animal cruelty, neglect, and suffering; being involved in dangerous and high-stress rescue operations (e.g., hoarding cases, dogfighting rings); having to make decisions about, assist with, or perform euthanasia (to some, this may be a form of primary trauma); mass animal death (e.g., disease outbreaks, hoarding situations, natural disasters); and supporting grieving clients or traumatized colleagues.
Acute trauma refers to a single, distressing event that threatens your sense of security (physical or emotional). Afterward, whether you’ve experienced a traumatic situation directly or indirectly, it’s common – and completely normal – to experience a variety of emotional and physical responses. This is called the “acute stress reaction.” You can expect symptoms to last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and in the context of animal welfare-related trauma, the acute stress reaction may look like:
· Dreams or intrusive thoughts about the traumatic event.
· Being preoccupied with certain animals or clients.
· Allowing work to interfere with personal life.
· Seeing one’s self as the only one who can care for or save animals.
· Experiencing chronic feelings of inadequacy.
· Placing labels on everyone (e.g., all animals are victims, all people are perpetrators)
· Viewing others as abusive, neglectful, untrustworthy, dangerous, etc.
· Feeling chronically fatigued.
· Losing interest in pleasurable activities or not practicing self-care.
· Losing confidence in one’s self.
· Isolating or withdrawing from others.
· Using unhealthy coping skills such as drugs or alcohol to self-soothe.
· Feeling detached from others.
· Experiencing conflicts with others.
· Feeling chronically hopeless, helpless, and/or cynical.
Understanding and addressing compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and PTSD is vital to sustaining a career (or volunteer role) in animal welfare. These emotional and psychological challenges are not signs of weakness but rather natural responses to the difficult work you do every day. By recognizing the symptoms and gaining support – whether through professional counseling, peer groups, or self-care practices – you can safeguard your well-being while continuing to make a difference in the lives of animals.
-Jen
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