COMPASSION FATIGUE

(People and Society) A temporarily indifferent or unsympathetic attitude towards others' suffering as a result of overexposure to charitable appeals. Etymology: Formed by compounding: fatigue affecting one's capacity for compassion. History and Usage: Compassion fatigue was first written about in the US in the early eighties, and at first was used mainly in the context of refugee appeals and the resulting pressure on immigration policy there. In the UK compassion fatigue was first mentioned when famines in Ethiopia in 1984-5 became the subject of graphic television appeals, followed by large-scale fund-raising events such as Band Aid (see -Aid). It was feared that the British public could only stand the sight of so many starving children before 'switching off' emotionally to their suffering, but in the event the response to these appeals was good and it seemed that the issues most vulnerable to compassion fatigue were the ones generally perceived as 'old news'. The same effect on governmental agencies has been described as aid fatigue. Geldof, the Irish rock musician who conceived the event and spearheaded its hasty implementation, said that he 'wanted to get this done before compassion fatigue set in', following such projects as the African fund-raising records 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' and 'We Are the World'. New York Times 22 Sept. 1985, section 2, p. 28 It is a chilling vision, a cataclysm. Compassion fatigue be damned. There is no doubt that we in Britain, without ceasing to wage our domestic battle against Aids, should be careful not to forget Africa, fighting its far more savage war. Independent on Sunday 1 Apr. 1990, Sunday Review section, p. 10