What is Burnout and How do we recognize it?
Burnout is an exhaustion reaction of body and mind to a prolonged period of stress.
The term Burnout was first introduced by the psycho analytic Freudenberger. Burnout is a process that develops in stages (Heyman: Overwrought, a practical guide to the recognizing and the preventing of Burnout, 1990). This process is characterized by a steady loss of the mentality and the zeal that are required for a qualitatively acceptable degree of practicing one's profession. The employee is less and less able to meet the requirements of the organization and of him. In the case of being overwrought, the employee functions normally until he is faced with a stressful situation, after which he functions worse, both in the personal and in the professional field, for a relatively short period. Burnout is limited to work-related complaints that are the result of a prolonged period of being overwrought. The characteristics are: emotional exhaustion, unusual tiredness, a decreased interest in one's work, and a feeling of incompetence. The distinguishing difference between Burnout and stress is that when the cause is taken away, people with stress recover quite quickly, whereas in the case of Burnout, the complaints remain and people do not easily get well-balanced again. This does not take away the fact that everybody can recover from a Burnout. People who easily get a Burnout are persons who are idealistic, hard working, between 20 and 40 years old, and with great expectations regarding their job. Burnout occurs most frequently with people who have a service-oriented profession that brings with it a lot of contact with people: teachers, nurses, doctors, care-givers, managers, employees of customer services, etcetera.
Characteristics
We have put together the most significant symptoms of Burnout (partly based on an article by S. de Vries). Awareness and acceptance of the Burnout problem are essential to be able to cope with it. When we are able to improve our awareness of our stressors, the stress process and the results of our reaction can change the way we experience the stress situation. When we change the experience, we can also change the effects of stress on ourselves. Well-known symptoms of Burnout are:
- Physical
The inability to recover from tiredness, the worsening of psychosomatic complaints, sleeping disturbances, and an increased use of nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol.
- Emotional
Feeling empty, depressed, and fearful. Suffering from panic attacks. Being easily upset. Being extremely emotional all of a sudden. Loss of confidence. A feeling of not being able to do anything any more.
- Thoughts
Problems with concentration. Chaotic trains of thought that cannot be stopped. A fixation on certain thoughts. Inability to make decisions. Being absent-minded. Forgetful.
- Behaviour
Living and thinking like a robot, a machine. Complaining a lot. Apathy. A tendency to avoid people. Making more mistakes and accidents. Being impatient and easily irritated. An inability to relax.
- Interpersonal behaviour
Being mentally absent in relationships. A decreased interest in intimacy and sex. Being unreasonable. Behaviour that causes conflicts. Loss of interest in friends. Lack of tolerance. Seeing other people as burdensome. Refusing to accept help.
- Work achievements
A decreased degree of professionalism. A decreased quantity of work done. An avoidance of work. Making more mistakes. Perfectionism. Being obsessed by details. An avoidance of responsibility. A decreased sense of professional and ethical standards.
- Attitude towards one's work
Loss of motivation. Complaining. Loss of interest alternating with a heightened zeal. Being demoralized. A negative and critical attitude. A feeling of powerlessness. A feeling of failure. Apathy. Lack of confidence. Being absent from work more often. Thinking of changing one's job.
- Attitude towards people one meets when at work
Loss of empathy and compassion. Being careless as regards to professional limits. Creating an emotional distance. Impatience. Getting isolated. Bad communication. Conflicts. An avoidance of personal or professional help.
When we recognize quite a number of the characteristics mentioned above, it is advisable to have a good look at one's personal situation. Be alert so that you will not become a victim of Burnout yourself. It is clear that all the symptoms mentioned above worsen your problem, create new stressors, and easily get you into a vicious circle that is hard to get out of. Awareness is an important key in the healing process of Burnout and therefore it is good to look at the causes of Burnout.
|
|
|
|
|
Basics & Backgrounds
in Dutch
Home
Print Article
Comment on Article
Write New Article
Search Articles