Helper syndrome

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The helper syndrome is the negative effects of excessive help, which are often found in social professions (such as teachers, doctors, nurses, pastors, psychologists, social workers). It was first described in 1977 by the psychoanalyst Wolfgang Schmidbauer in his book The Helpless Helpers .

The disorder underlying excessive help was later referred to as pathological altruism (pathological charity).

Concept by Wolfgang Schmidbauer

According to this concept, a person affected by the helper syndrome has a weak self-esteem and is fixated on his role as a helper; helping or wanting to be needed becomes an addiction . He tries to embody an ideal that he himself missed in his parents or generally in his childhood. His willingness to help goes up to self-harm and neglect of family and partnership; In doing so, he overlooks or underestimates the limits of what is possible and also ignores the question of whether his help is desired or useful at all. He refuses to help others with his mission. This can lead to burn-out or depression .

Limits between healthy and pathological helping

To see the needs and needs of other people is a sign of empathy , to help them or to do something good is basically something positive and a natural and healthy human need. This also applies if your own interests are temporarily neglected. It is important to find a healthy balance between give and take and, when helping, pay attention to your own desires, needs and physical limits, as well as the benefits and needs of the person you are helping with. One should be clear about the motives for helping and whether the help provided is really useful for the recipient of the help (doing him a service in the positive sense of the word). If the helper loses the need of the other person, as well as his own desires, goals and physical limits from his own need of wanting to help and mainly helps to enhance his own person, his help becomes pathological .

The term 'helper syndrome' refers to the tendency of a person to offer themselves primarily as a helper in interpersonal encounters . Because of their own need for confirmation, social contact or social recognition , the helper depends so much on thanks, attention or confirmation from the recipient or society that he does not reduce his willingness to help even if his help is not needed or he is overloaded , feeling drained, exploited or abused. The helper satisfies his need for belonging and for confirmation of self-worth (self-esteem) through his "self-sacrifice".

While solidary help is primarily geared towards the benefit of those who receive the help, pathological help is geared towards the egocentric motives and unconscious psychological needs of the helper.

The pattern of becoming dependent on recognition from others is usually learned in childhood. Affected people consider themselves lovable and valuable only when they sacrifice themselves and receive confirmation from others and experience an appreciation of their self (“martyr role”). In doing so, they forget to see their own desires, needs and physical limits, as well as to accept help themselves.

Pathological altruism

While in the psychoanalytical concept of the helper syndrome according to W. Schmidbauer the focus is on the helper, the term "pathological altruism" (pathological neighborly love ) is broader and describes, among other things, neuropsychological relationships and possible negative effects on the object of help or the social context, i.e. the person or group who is to be helped, but also outside persons or groups.

The evolutionary basis lies in the combination of innate caring behavior and missing or insufficient information about its possibly harmful consequences. A classic example is the brood care of nest parasites (e.g. cuckoo birds ). Another classic example is the negative consequences of individual “development aid projects”, especially in Africa .

The medical risks of excessive altruism for the helper themselves are burnout , guilt , shame , anxiety and depression .

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Helper syndrome  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

literature

science

counselor

  • Barbara Messer : Helper Syndrome? - Strategies for responsible carers , Schlütersche, Hannover 2014, ISBN 9783842685871 .
  • Wolfgang Schmidbauer: The helpless helpers: About the emotional problems of the helping professions. Rowohlt, 1978, ISBN 3-498-06123-2 .
  • Schmidbauer, Wolfgang .: Helper syndrome and burnout risk. 1st edition Urban & Fischer, Munich [u. a.] 2002, ISBN 978-3-437-26940-0 .
  • Wolfgang Schmidbauer: The helper syndrome. Help for helpers. Rowohlt, 2007, ISBN 978-3-499-62208-3 .
  • Ulsamer, Bertold .: Born to help: Answers for helpless helpers from families. 1st edition. Vier-Türme-Verlag, Münsterschwarzach 2004, ISBN 978-3-87868-644-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schmidbauer, Wolfgang .: The helpless helpers: About the emotional problems of the helping professions. 24th - 31st thousand edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1978, ISBN 3-498-06123-2 .
  2. ^ Schmidbauer, Wolfgang .: Helper syndrome and burnout risk. 1st edition Urban & Fischer, Munich [u. a.] 2002, ISBN 3-437-26940-2 .
  3. ^ Beattie, Melody .: The addiction to be needed . 14th edition Heyne, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-453-08520-6 .
  4. ↑ Röhr, Heinz-Peter .: Ways out of dependence: Overcoming destructive relationships. Unabridged edition. German Taschenbuch-Verl, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-423-34463-0 .
  5. ↑ Mellody, Pia .: Entangled in the Problems of Others: About the Origin and Effects of Codependency. Kösel, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-466-30309-5 .
  6. ↑ Ulsamer, Bertold .: Born to help: Answers for helpless helpers from families. 1st edition. Vier-Türme-Verlag, Münsterschwarzach 2004, ISBN 3-87868-644-7 .
  7. ↑ a b E. B. Tone, EC Tully: Empathy as a "risky strength": a multilevel examination of empathy and risk for internalizing disorders. In: Development and psychopathology. Volume 26, number 4 Pt 2, 11 2014, pp. 1547-1565, doi: 10.1017 / S0954579414001199 , PMID 25422978 , PMC 4340688 (free full text) (review).
  8. ↑ Barbara Oakley, Ariel Knafo, Guruprasad Madhavan, David Sloan Wilson (Eds.): Pathological Altruism , Oxford University Press, USA, 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-973857-1 , PDF .
  9. ↑ a b B. A. Oakley: Concepts and implications of altruism bias and pathological altruism. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . Volume 110 Suppl 2, June 2013, pp. 10408-10415, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1302547110 , PMID 23754434 , PMC 3690610 (free full text).