Conference paper
THE EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BURDEN OF THE "BURNOUT" IN FAMILIES OF PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS
Francesco Franza
orcid.org/0000-0002-2263-3699
; "Villa dei Pini" Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centre, Avellino, Italy Psychiatric and Psychological Studies Centre “Neamente”, Mercogliano (AV), Italy
Abstract
People, who assist patients with chronic health problems for work, voluntary or for family reasons, may be affected by burnout.
This is defined as an excessive reaction to stress caused by one's environment that may be characterized by feelings of emotional and
physical exhaustion, coupled with a sense of frustration and failure. A person who assists a suffering person, beyond the professional
role, is indicated generally by the term "caregiver". The definition of Burnout in families is fairly recent, because the psychology of
trauma has ignored a large segment of traumatized and disabled subjects (family and other assistants of "suffering people")
unwittingly, for a long time. The burnout of secondary stress is due to one’s empathic ability, actions trough disengagement, and a
sense of satisfaction from helping to relieve suffering. Figley (1995) claims that being a member of a family or other type of intimate
or bonded interpersonal relationship, one feels the others’ pain. Closely associated with the suffering of the family caregiver is the
concept of compassion fatigue, defined as a state of exhaustion and disfunction-biologically, psychologically, and socially - as a
result of prolonged exposure to compassion stress and all that it evokes. In families, this can be the cause of serious conflicts and
problems, quarrels, verbal and physical aggression, and broken relationships. The intervention on families requires practice and
effectiveness approaches performed by experienced professionals. Some approaches focus more specifically, such as those that adopt
a cognitive/behavioural technique with direct exposure, implosion methods, various drug treatments and family group psychotherapy.
One of the most common models of intervention is based on the principle that the observation unit for the understanding of
the disorder is not the single individual but the relationship between individuals.
Keywords
burnout; caregiver; family members; compassion fatigue
Hrčak ID:
264132
URI
Publication date:
4.9.2019.
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