| How can we develop a greater ability to open our hearts to all beings without becoming overwhelmed by suffering? Caregivers with high empathy who are exposed to repeated client trauma are at most risk for developing vicarious traumatization or compassion fatigue (Figley, 1995). The present investigation examined how ten professional caregivers utilized Buddhist practice to develop their capacity to experience compassion to avoid burnout in response to severe patient suffering. Interviews were conducted with Western helping professionals that worked in extremely stressful positions (medical and psychiatric emergency, oncology, and urgent care) and who had taken the Bodhisattva vow---a Mahayana Buddhist aspiration to seek enlightenment in order to save all sentient beings.;Analysis of results utilized the qualitative heuristic method (developed by Moustakas, 1994) which allowed for an in-depth exploration of both the primary researcher's and participants' processes as they integrated the intention of the Bodhisattva vow into daily life. After individual portraits of each participant's experience were developed, the core themes that were most emphasized in the experience were presented in composite descriptions.;Results emphasized three primary areas: understanding the vow and its primary intention as a catalyst for moral development and expanding one's capacity to experience compassion; pragmatic descriptions of how Buddhist practice can be integrated in care giving (including developing the brahmaviharas of lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; the paramitas, and concentration practices); and comparison of studies on stress, resiliency, emotional regulation, and affect tolerance with the co-researchers' somatic and mental experiences of compassion and burnout.;When differentiating the experience of compassion versus burnout, co-researchers emphasized the importance of developing one's capacity to be present with another's suffering versus spiraling into one's own reaction to another's suffering. This experience included the importance of intention; recognizing the spaciousness in the cessation of suffering; dissolving of self absorption; development of self compassion; and developing one's capacity to experience strong emotional affect. |
