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Empathy-based post-traumatic stress, also referred to in the clinical literature as vicarious trauma or secondary traumatic stress, is an emerging psychopathological condition with a significant impact on the educational ecosystem. This phenomenon manifests through symptoms analogous to those of direct Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), triggered not by a personally experienced traumatic event but by chronic exposure, empathic engagement, and the daily burden of witnessing and containing the suffering, violence, and social exclusion experienced by students. This study adopts a qualitative clinical approach to explore and describe this condition among public primary school teachers in the district of San Miguelito, Panama, a region characterized by high levels of socioeconomic and family vulnerability. Through clinical observation records, psychotherapeutic field journals, and triangulation with regional data on state-trait anxiety, the study analyzes the emotional, cognitive, and physical manifestations of compassion fatigue among teachers. The findings reveal that this form of exhaustion undermines teachers' psychological stability, leading to depersonalization and emotional numbing. This relational disruption negatively affects the bidirectional dynamics of the classroom, directly impacting the teaching-learning process by diminishing teachers' capacity to function as socio-emotional co-regulators and hindering the development of students' metacognitive autonomy. Finally, the study discusses urgent individual coping strategies and institutional support measures within the framework of Panamanian mental health legislation.
