Burnout syndrome: causes, symptoms, what to do

Very often faced with the phenomenon of emotional burnout, we confuse it with the usual blues caused by fatigue and the need to solve daily life problems. In fact, this is a very dangerous mental state, which must be recognized in time and measures must be taken to "recover" as soon as possible.

Burnout reasons

Burnout syndrome is characterized by loss of energy, moral, mental and physical exhaustion, most often associated with problems at work. It becomes difficult for a person who until recently could complete many daily tasks to concentrate on their direct duties, to the extent that he simply does not want to get out of bed in the morning. The day drags on endlessly, everything falls out of hand, relations with colleagues and loved ones are becoming more and more tense, because those around you and even yourself " sick" do not understand that this is not just a bad mood and character traits. Working in an emergency mode, a person emotionally "wears out", but this process does not occur 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 moral strength in time, they bring their condition to the limit of possibilities.

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

Psychiatrists note that most of those who show a similar reaction to stress, are unstable, tend to dream and idealize their work. Such professions as a 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 and young mom, for whom the execution of monotonous affairs turns into a real hard labor.

Burnout syndrome: signs

To prevent further development ailment, it is necessary to start eliminating the signs of burnout in time. They can be conditionally divided into three groups:

Physical manifestations:

• constant fatigue;
• migraine;
• backache;
• insomnia;
• weakness in the muscles;
• regular colds;
• nausea;
• increased sweating;
• loss of appetite;
• disruption of the gastrointestinal tract.

Psychoemotional manifestations:

• lack of confidence in their abilities;
• indifference to everything that happens;
• loss of life goals and ideals;
• dissatisfaction with oneself and others;
• lack of motivation to take action;
• irritability.

Signs related to social characteristics of behavior:

• the desire to be more and more alone;
• evasion of professional duties;
• negative statements on any occasion;
• envy and anger;
• feeling of hostility around people.

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

Emotional burnout

Psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberg identified several stages in the development of a borderline emotional state:

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

It is worth noting that people who try to cope with problems with the help of alcohol or other stimulants further exacerbate the situation and risk bringing themselves to a mental breakdown.

Professional burnout

Back in 1974, experts in the field of psychiatry noticed that the manifestation of signs of moral exhaustion is most often found in people whose professional activities are related to the communicative sphere, and these are teachers, psychologists, doctors, writers, artists, managers, leaders. Against the background of emotional stress, they begin to lose interest in work, not take their responsibilities seriously and conflict with colleagues and subordinates for no objective reason.

Usually, social workers felt some negative changes after 2-4 years. Younger employees are more likely to burn out, they are dreamy and often idealize the profession. When faced with reality, they tend to experience severe shock and begin to feel a decline in physical and mental strength.

Psychiatrists have noticed that burnout is directly related to how well the employee's personal life is. People who are not married are more likely to experience the disease.

Character traits are also of considerable importance. Personal qualities such as resistance to stress, the ability to perceive failures as their own mistakes are very helpful in performing difficult work. The situation is much worse if a person shifts the blame onto others, finds 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 realization that work and efforts will be appreciated.

Burnout teachers

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

Factors affecting the likelihood of burnout:

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

Burnout syndrome develops gradually and has three main stages.

First stage:

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

Second stage:

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

Third stage:

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

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

Therefore, before proceeding with the elimination of symptoms, decide for yourself what exactly does not suit you at work. If you cannot do this on your own, it is worth resorting to the help of a psychologist in order to avoid further development of mental disorders.

Burnout: what to do

Before you start dealing with burnout, you need to find out if you actually have most of the symptoms of burnout. If fatigue becomes chronic, you feel constant physical weakness and irritation, you can hardly get up in the morning to go to a hateful job, 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 the signs of burnout are currently available?

There are many 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 keeps aloof, without experiencing emotional outbursts and mental anguish;
• self-affirmation and raising one's own significance at the expense of someone's weakness or humiliation;
• emphasizing their exclusivity and irreplaceability;
• various stimulants supposedly improving performance - energy drinks, alcohol, cigarettes.

"Positive":

• various psychological trainings and technologies, role-playing games that contribute to team building and raising the corporate spirit;
• professional development, participation in seminars stimulate personal growth, aim at new achievements and gaining knowledge;
• possible change of activity, rejection of additional loads, search for new types hobbies.

Burnout prevention

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 goes out, his gaze becomes indifferent and everything around him annoys. This is how burnout syndrome manifests itself. It is better for any disease to be prevented than to cure, for this it is necessary to know how to prevent it.

1. First and foremost, try to maintain a positive outlook on life and be simpler about everything that happens to you. You should not look for the right and the guilty, constantly cherishing resentment towards people. Focus on the result, think about what benefits you can derive from the situation, what you can learn.
2. More communicate, do not hide in a shell of eternal discontent, only then you will feel support and feedback from others.
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 get distracted from work in all possible ways, for example, looking for a new hobby.
5. If you are a leader, praise your subordinates for their diligence even when they did not complete the task in the way you would like. Assess your abilities and the capabilities of employees realistically An emergency mode and a sense of meaninglessness of activity becomes the main cause of emotional burnout.
6. Bring novelty and variety to your profession, this will increase the efficiency and speed of completing tasks, because monotony exhausts even a professional in his field.