Lawyers, like others in the helping professions, are at risk for experiencing compassion fatigue. What is Compassion Fatigue?

Compassion fatigue is the cumulative physical, emotional and psychological effect of exposure to traumatic stories or events when working in a helping capacity, combined with the strain and stress of everyday life.

It’s important to note that compassion fatigue is different than burnout.  While burnout is predictable, building over time and resulting in work dissatisfaction, compassion fatigue has a narrower focus.  Someone affected by compassion fatigue may be harmed by the work they do, experiencing intrusive imagery and a change in world-view.

Compassion fatigue is also known as vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, second hand shock and secondary stress reaction.  Regardless of the term used, compassion fatigue affects those in the helping professions, including the legal profession, and is treatable. Treatment of compassion fatigue may prevent the development of a more serious disorder.

Tips on how to identify it and mitigate its negative effects: https://ambar.org/jnpx8x.

Dr. Angela White-Bazile, Esq. (JLAP’s Executive Director) and Jessica Duplantis, MAC, CRC, LPC (JLAP’s Clinical Case Manager)

Dr. Angela White-Bazile discusses JLAP’s services at the 23rd LJC/NBA Meeting and CLE Seminar

What Is Alcohol or Drug Detox?

Detoxification is the process of flushing substances from the body and managing any resulting withdrawal symptoms.

Alcohol detox and withdrawal produce a set of physical and mental symptoms that result from alcohol’s departure from the body, commonly referred to as alcohol withdrawal syndrome. The symptoms often vary in severity: they can be confused for a mild cold or they can prove deadly. This unpredictability makes medical involvement and supervision incredibly important.

Drug detox and withdrawal can arise from both illegal drugs and prescription pain killers, and are rather similar to alcohol detoxification but the symptoms and medical solutions will vary based on several factors:

• The drug or drugs taken
• The duration and extent of drug use
• Any family history of addiction
• General health concerns or absence thereof
• The presence of co-occurring mental health disorders (the coexistence of mental health diagnoses and addiction)

Alcohol and drug detox are the first stages to recovery from substance use disorders. Medical professionals and treatment centers can provide a safe environment for detoxing from alcohol, opioids and other drugs and transition patients into a more engaging treatment experience.

For more information from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, click here.

When health care providers demonize people addicted to drugs or alcohol, it just makes the problem worse.

Untreated drug and alcohol use contributes to tens of thousands of deaths every year and affects the lives of many more people. We have effective treatments, including medications for opioid and alcohol use disorders, that could prevent a significant number of these deaths, but they are not being utilized widely enough, and people who could benefit often do not even seek them out. One important reason is the stigma around those with addiction.

Stigma is a problem for people with health conditions ranging from cancer and HIV to a variety of mental illnesses, but it is especially powerful in the context of substance use disorders. Even though medicine long ago reached the consensus that addiction is a complex brain disorder, those with addiction continue to be blamed for their condition. The public, as well as many people working in health care and in the justice system, continues to view addiction as a result of moral weakness and flawed character.

To read full Scientific American Article, click here.