Vitality as a Moderator of Clinician History of Trauma and Compassion Fatigue

Vitality is an understudied protective mechanism within the psychotherapy literature. This study explored the impact of vitality on the relationship between a counselor’s past traumatic experiences on their compassion fatigue. The sample consisted of 113 licensed counselors from a variety of disciplines (e.g., social workers, professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists) and represented an international sample. Findings showed that vitality is significant as a protective mechanism for the development of compassion fatigue for counselors with a history of trauma. The ego depletion hypothesis is provided as a context to describe this relationship and the role vitality plays. Implications for the practicing clinician are provided within this context.