Mindful Self-Compassion as an Antidote to Burnout for Mental Health Practitioners

Abstract

The objective of this correlational study was to explore the relationship between levels of self-compassion and burnout for currently practicing mental health practitioners (MHPs) in the United States. All professionals are vulnerable to burnout based on various types of organizational stressors, but burnout is of particular concern for health care service providers who may need to adopt a stance of detachment, or emotional distance, as relief from intense workloads, with clients. The data were collected through an online survey. Regression analysis found that scores from Neff’s Self-Compassion Scale were a significant negative predictor of levels of MHP burnout, as assessed by Schaufeli et al.’s Burnout Assessment Tool, p < 0.001. The implication of this finding is that cultivating self-compassion appears to be a pragmatic self-care strategy for MHPs to mitigate the negative effects of burnout. More educational and occupational training in self-compassion practices as self-care should be provided to help protect the physical and emotional well-being of MHPs. The deleterious systemic effects of burnout make MHP self-care an ethical issue, along with the need to identify protective factors, prevention, and treatment of burnout.