Empathy Burnout: What It Is & How to Cope

What Is Empathy Burnout?

Empathy burnout develops as a result of ongoing stress and affects individuals who frequently provide emotional support and guidance to others. Empathy burnout can look similar to compassion fatigue, but symptom length and severity differ between the two experiences.

Healthcare workers, caregivers, and similar professionals are at the highest risk of burnout due to the emotional demands and nature of their fields.^1,2 However, whether providing support in a personal or professional environment, frequently caring for the emotional well-being of others can lead to exhaustion.

Symptoms of Empathy Burnout

Empathy burnout can affect individuals physically, mentally, and emotionally, leaving them exhausted or stuck in brain fog. If left unaddressed, regular and persistent empathy burnout may result in medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, anxiety, or depression.³

Symptoms of empathy burnout can ultimately become debilitating for those experiencing the condition. Signs of burnout may be evident in overall demeanor, energy levels, enthusiasm, and ability to stay engaged.⁴

Symptoms of empathy burnout may include:

• Lack of energy
• Sleep disturbances
• Decline in compassion
• Emotional dysregulation or emotional exhaustion
• Changes in beliefs, values, or views of the workplace/world

Causes of Empathy Burnout

Various factors can contribute to the onset of empathy burnout, much of which relates to the absorption and over-personalization of another person’s emotions. For example, empathy burnout can result from living during a time of distressing events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, war, or a mass shooting. With the rise of social media, having constant access to current news can further increase the risk of experiencing this condition.

Causes of empathy burnout may include:

• Distressing current events: Finding solace from the barrage of disheartening world news and events can be challenging. A person may easily become overwhelmed after emphasizing for others affected.
• Toxicity in social media: Seeing bad news or events constantly online can leave individuals feeling drained after extending their compassion to others in distress.
• Societal demands: Societal expectations for one to maintain a healthy lifestyle, exercise, socialize with friends, and be financially stable–all while remaining supportive of loved ones and a “productive, good” person–are exhausting.
• Increase in responsibilities: Think of this as adding another heaping second serving onto a plate that is already full–taking on additional obligations to please others leaves no space for tending to personal needs.
• Feeling guilty about self-care: Individuals overlook their own well-being when they feel guilty about caring for themselves instead of others.

10 Ways to Cope With Empathy Burnout

Fortunately, implementing healthy coping strategies and self-care routines can help prevent empathy burnout. However, empathy burnout will not solely be cured by “taking a mental health day.” Understanding how to deal with feeling overwhelmed, prevent emotional burnout, and practice stress management are all important steps to take when addressing symptoms.

Below are 10 tips for coping with empathy burnout:

1. Practice Emotional Self-Care

Practicing emotional self-care is one of the most important things you can do when dealing with empathy burnout. If you are naturally compassionate and giving, you are more likely to experience life through an emotional lens rather than a logical one. For this reason, practicing emotional self-care will help you recover from and better manage empathy burnout moving forward.

Find what methods work best for you. For example, check in with yourself to see how you are feeling–physically, mentally, and emotionally. Explore what messages your body and mind may be telling you. Perhaps trying a new hobby or taking a break from responsibilities is the only thing you need.

2. Set Healthy Boundaries With Others

Setting healthy boundaries with others encourages you to honor how much empathetic load you can handle. Boundaries should apply to your personal and professional life. This way, others will recognize your limits and what behaviors are “crossing the line.”

As parents and caregivers, setting boundaries may include only allowing visitors at certain times or instilling rules about the parental expectations of the household. Standing up for yourself and your emotional well-being is like keeping a promise to yourself.

3. Try Exercising

Exercise and mental health are closely related, as physical activity can reduce stress and boost motivation, energy, and focus. In its own way, exercise is another way to practice emotional and physical self-care, providing a valuable tool for coping with empathy burnout.

You may think, “I don’t have the time for exercise.” However, short movement breaks throughout your day can have similar benefits as one much longer session.⁵ For example, you can try stretching, walking, and yoga. Even for people with busy schedules, stretching after first waking up and before bed can help shift them into a state of calm and optimism.

4. Practice Meditation

People can meditate in different ways, but the prime purpose is to remain still and present in the moment. Doing so can help you learn to manage emotions as they arise rather than become overwhelmed.

For example, walking meditations can help you see the beauty of the world you may overlook in your day-to-day hustle and bustle. Utilizing loving-kindness meditation focuses on fostering the empathy and compassion you show towards yourself, which can reduce symptoms of empathy burnout.

5. Practice Daily Gratitude

A daily gratitude practice helps you see the positives in life despite anxiety and stress. This exercise provides a sense of hope and appreciation for the people and opportunities you have. Practicing daily gratitude can, and should be, simple. For instance, consider naming one thing you are thankful for when you first wake up or making a short list before bed. Praying, writing letters, or journaling are other options to explore. The more you practice gratitude, the more automatic and natural it will become.

6. Use Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations can help shift your overall mindset away from empathy burnout. These remind you of your worth and that everything will work out in your favor. Self-affirmations are short, focus on the present moment, and take you from a place of negativity to one more grounded and hopeful.

You can practice affirmations at any point throughout your day. Try listening to a pre-recorded list or making your own. Place your list around your environment (i.e., on your mirror or in your car). Some of the most effective affirmations begin with “I am” as a way to affirm and embody the sentiment.

7. Try Emotional Freedom Tapping

Emotional freedom tapping (EFT) combines positive affirmations and a series of acupressure points to balance bodily energy frequency. Usually, EFT starts with focusing on a particular emotion or stressor. A person will then work to shift the energy around this before moving on to another. EFT encourages you to accept what currently contributes to empathy burnout while instilling a sense of hope, motivation, and empowerment.

8. Start Journaling & Making Lists

Journaling is a tool to release worries rather than bottle them up until they explode. Brain dumping is a way to place internal thoughts on paper, offering your brain the necessary space to breathe and work through these feelings. You can then take a step back, refocus your energy on things that need fixing, and determine how to move forward healthily.

9. Practice Deep Breathing/Breathwork

One of the most underutilized tools for coping with empathy burnout is to train your breath. You can practice breathwork in many ways, such as taking slow breaths, using guided exercises, or engaging in Wim Hof or Holotropic breathing. Breathwork activates the relaxation response and encourages you to stop and think before reacting to stress.

Breathwork reduces empathy burnout symptoms by increasing oxygen, improving blood flow, and regulating your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. This shift reduces the production of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine.

10. Establish Your Support System

Leaning on established support systems is important when overcoming empathy burnout. Doing so may take some time, courage, and a lot of trust. A support system does not only mean your family and friends–it can also include any associates, mentors, or professionals who support you, no matter what. For example, if you are experiencing empathy burnout at work, ask a trusted coworker to help you develop a plan that allows you to meet expectations while also taking care of your mental and emotional health.

When to Seek Professional Help

Seek support as soon as signs of empathy burnout emerge rather than allowing them to be overwhelming. Letting this condition go unaddressed or overlooked can increase the risk of worsening symptoms of depression or symptoms of anxiety.

You have many options when finding the right therapist. Whether you explore online therapy options, use an online therapist directory, or ask for recommendations from your doctor or loved ones, help is available to support you.

Therapy options for empathy burnout include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT helps clients understand the relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and actions. They will then focus on changing negativity to influence and enact positive changes.
• Walk-and-talk therapy: A walk-and-talk therapy session can be especially beneficial for addressing symptoms of empathy burnout. The bilateral stimulation experienced from walking is similar to that utilized in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), which can help one process emotions stored in the body.
• Solution-focused therapy: Solution-focused therapy helps clients identify what causes their empathy burnout and work toward implementing solutions to address triggers.
• Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy (MBSR): This approach marries Buddhist practices with mental health treatment. MBSR teaches a person coping skills that can help them recover from empathy burnout.