Burnout syndrome: causes, symptoms, what to do

Very often, when faced with the phenomenon of emotional burnout, we confuse it with ordinary blues caused by fatigue and the need to solve daily life problems. In fact, this is a very dangerous mental condition that needs to be recognized in time and measures taken for a speedy “recovery.”

Causes of burnout

Burnout syndrome is characterized by a loss of strength, moral, mental and physical exhaustion, most often associated with problems at work. A person who until recently could complete many daily tasks finds it difficult to concentrate on his direct responsibilities, to the point that he simply does not want to get out of bed in the morning. The day drags on endlessly, everything falls out of hand, relationships with colleagues and loved ones become more and more tense, because those around you and even yourself “ sick" They don’t understand that this is not just a bad mood and character traits. Working in emergency mode, a person becomes emotionally “worn out,” but this process does not happen suddenly, but gradually, over several months and even years. Thus, people delay the development of the “incubation” period. And not finding a way to replenish their moral strength in time, they bring their condition to the limit of their capabilities.

Herbert Freudenberg was the first to diagnose and describe the phenomenon of emotional burnout relatively recently - in the 70s of the last century. The American specialist noted that it often affects people who are required to perform routine work every day in a stressful rhythm and at the same time face the human factor. If all efforts are not properly rewarded, a person feels underappreciated, quickly gets tired and loses interest in everything.

Psychiatrists note that the majority of those who exhibit a similar reaction to stress, unstable, prone to daydreaming and idealizing their work. Professions such as doctor, teacher, manager, leader, psychologist are at risk and require special attention. Creative people - writers, artists, designers - are also at risk, since their success often depends on the opinion of the audience. After all, even a housewife can have a nervous breakdown young mommy for whom doing monotonous tasks turns into real hard labor.

Burnout syndrome: signs

To prevent further development  illness, it is necessary to begin eliminating the signs of emotional burnout in a timely manner. Conventionally, they can be divided into three groups:

Physical manifestations:

• constant fatigue;
• migraines;
• back pain;
• insomnia;
• muscle weakness;
• regular colds;
• nausea;
• increased sweating;
• loss of appetite;
• disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.

Psycho-emotional manifestations:

• lack of self-confidence;
• indifference to everything that happens;
• loss of life goals and ideals;
• dissatisfaction with oneself and others;
• lack of motivation to act;
• irritability.

Signs associated with social behavior:

• the desire to be alone more and more often;
• avoidance of professional duties;
• negative statements on any occasion;
• envy and malice;
• feeling of hostility from surrounding people.

People often confuse burnout syndrome with manifestation depression. Indeed, the clinical picture is quite similar - the same doom, inability to concentrate and gloomy mood. However, depression would be much more difficult to cope with.

Emotional burnout

Psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberg outlined several stages of development of a borderline emotional state:

1. The person is quite happy with life, but nervous tension is constantly increasing.
2. Stress undermines self-confidence and the first signs of emotional burnout appear in the form of fatigue and insomnia.
3. The patient loses interest in work, does not have time to fulfill responsibilities and feels depressed.
4. Regular stress begins to affect relationships with colleagues and family, a person expresses his dissatisfaction with any reason. Physical health also suffers - colds become more frequent, immunity drops.
5. Complete loss of strength, exacerbation of chronic ailments.

It is worth noting that people who try to cope with problems with the help of alcohol or other stimulants make the situation even worse and risk driving themselves to a mental breakdown.

Professional burnout

Back in 1974, specialists in the field of psychiatry noticed that the manifestation of signs of moral exhaustion most often occurs in people whose professional activities are related to the communicative sphere, and these are teachers, psychologists, doctors, writers, artists, managers, and executives. Against the backdrop of emotional stress, they begin to lose interest in work, take their responsibilities lightly, and conflict with colleagues and subordinates without objective reasons.

Typically, social workers felt some negative changes after 2-4 years. Young employees are more prone to burnout, they are dreamers and often idealize their profession. When faced with reality, they usually experience a strong shock and begin to feel a decline in physical and moral strength.

Psychiatrists have noticed that emotional burnout is directly related to how well the employee’s personal life is organized. Unmarried people are more likely to experience the disease.

Character traits are also of considerable importance. Personal qualities such as resistance to stress and the ability to perceive failures as one’s own mistakes are very helpful in performing complex work. The situation is much worse if a person shifts the blame onto others, finds the reasons for failure in fate or chance.

The attitude of colleagues and loved ones can play a decisive role in preventing the development of burnout syndrome. After all, we all need support and a “feeling of comradeship,” the awareness that work and effort will be appreciated.

Teacher burnout

The topic of emotional burnout is especially relevant for university teachers and teachers due to the enormous demands from society placed on this profession. For a teacher, the ability to empathize is considered one of the most important, because his work has an important social role. However, in practice, the ability to sympathize can lead to moral overload and unpreparedness for possible difficulties.

Factors influencing the possibility of burnout:

• regular communication with people;
• high emotional load;
• Greater responsibility associated with children's education;
• underestimation of the difficult work of a teacher by management and society.

Professional burnout syndrome develops gradually and has three main stages.

First stage:

• forgetfulness and memory lapses;
• muting positive emotions;
• moral devastation.

Second stage:

• loss of enthusiasm for the profession;
• reluctance to communicate, tendency to loneliness;
• unconstructive disputes and conflicts with colleagues;
• fatigue that increases towards the end of the week;
• general weakness and fatigue.

Third stage:

• loss of life guidelines;
• exacerbation of chronic diseases;
• memory and attention impairment;
• insomnia.

The manifestation of all these factors depends on satisfaction with the results of work.

Therefore, before you begin to eliminate the symptoms, decide for yourself what exactly does not suit you in your work. If you cannot do this on your own, you should seek the help of a psychologist in order to avoid further development of mental disorders.

Burnout: what to do

Before you begin to deal with burnout, you need to find out whether you actually have most of the symptoms of burnout. If fatigue becomes chronic, you feel constant physical weakness and irritation, you have difficulty getting up in the morning to go to tired work, then it’s time to sound the alarm and try to help yourself get out of this state, you need to pull yourself together and make efforts to change your life for the better.

What methods of eliminating signs of emotional burnout currently exist?

There are quite a lot of ways. But they are all divided into two types.

"Negative":

• manifestation of professional cynicism using special expressions and terms;
• the method of alienation, when a person stays aloof, without experiencing emotional outbursts and mental anguish;
• self-affirmation and elevation of one’s own importance at the expense of someone else’s weakness or humiliation;
• emphasizing one’s exclusivity and indispensability;
• various stimulants that supposedly improve performance - energy drinks, alcohol, cigarettes.

"Positive":

• various psychological trainings and technologies, role-playing games that promote team unity and raise corporate spirit;
• professional development, participation in seminars stimulate personal growth, aim at new achievements and gain knowledge;
• possible change of activity, refusal of additional loads, search for new types hobbies.

Preventing emotional burnout

It often happens that a person who has taken on a business or project works with great dedication and enthusiasm. But after a while his ardor fades, his gaze becomes indifferent and everything around him irritates him. This is how emotional burnout syndrome manifests itself. It is better to prevent any disease than to treat it; for this you need to know how to prevent it.

1. The first and most important thing is to try to maintain a positive attitude towards life and take it easier on everything that happens to you. You should not look for those who are right and those who are wrong, constantly nursing grievances against people. Focus on the result, think about what benefits you can get from the situation, what you can learn.
2. More communicate, don’t hide in the shell of eternal discontent, only then will you feel support and feedback from those around you.
3. Don't set goals that will be difficult for you to achieve. Correctly assess your capabilities and potential, and then as a reward you will receive confidence in your abilities and recognition of your merits.
4. Play sports and take a break from work in any way possible, such as finding a new hobby.
5. If you are a manager, praise your subordinates for their efforts even when they did not complete a task the way you would like. Assess your abilities and the capabilities of your employees realistically. Emergency mode and a feeling of meaninglessness in activities becomes the main cause of emotional burnout.
6. Introduce novelty and variety into your profession, this will increase the efficiency and speed of completing tasks, because monotony exhausts even a professional.