Compassion Fatigue in the Treatment of Combat-Related Trauma During Wartime

This article utilizes relevant data on the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a composite case of a clinician working with combat survivors, in order to illustrate the potential for compassion fatigue in clinicians treating this cohort. Review of the literature on the effects of compassion fatigue related to combat trauma and the impact of collective shared trauma is presented. This is done in order to emphasize the complexity of the provision of war trauma treatment post 9/11 in the context of the ongoing wars. There is an urgent need for the mental health field to continue to develop interventions and educational programs that will help mitigate the deleterious effects of compassion fatigue in clinicians working with this population.