How to cure burnout syndrome. Burnout syndrome - main symptoms and treatment options

Burnout syndrome: signs, symptoms, causes, and coping strategies

If you feel constant stress, frustration, helplessness and are completely out of order, then you can assume that you are in a state of emotional burnout. Problems seem insurmountable to you, everything looks gloomy and it is very difficult for you to find the strength to get out of this state. The detachment resulting from burnout can jeopardize your relationships with others, your work, and finally your health. But burnout can be healed. You can restore your balance of power by redefining priorities and taking time for yourself and seeking support.

What is burnout syndrome?

(CMEA) is a state of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion caused by chronic stress, most often at work. You feel overwhelmed and unable to meet your ongoing needs. As stress continues, you begin to lose interest in everything. Most often, people who work in the "person-to-person" system are subject to burnout: preschool institutions, teachers, teachers, doctors, social workers, etc.

Burnout reduces your productivity and energy, making you feel helpless, hopeless, and resentful. In the end, you may feel that you cannot do anything else, that you are not strong enough for anything.

Most of us have days when we are overworked or underestimated; when we do a dozen things and no one notices it, not to mention the reward; we get ourselves out of bed with a tremendous effort to get to work. If you find yourself feeling this way more and more, you get burnout.

You are confidently moving towards burnout if:

• every day brings negativity into your life;
• caring for your work, personal or family life seems like a waste of time to you;
• you spend most of your day on tasks that you find dull, dull, and overwhelming.
• you feel that nothing pleases you;
• you have exhausted yourself.

The negative consequences of burnout begin to take over new areas of your life, including family and social. Burnout can also lead to long-term changes in your body that make you more vulnerable to various diseases. Due to the many possible negative consequences of burnout, it is important to start fighting it right away, without waiting for it to occur.

How to deal with burnout?

• Watch for warning signs of burnout, do not ignore them;
• Learn to manage stress and seek support from family and friends;
• Develop resistance to stress, take care of your emotional and physical health and health.

Burnout reasons

There are many reasons for burnout. In many cases, burnout is work-related. Anyone who is constantly overworked or feels undervalued is at risk of burnout. This may include a hardworking office worker who has not had a vacation or promotion in two years, or someone who is exhausted by caring for a sick old parent. There may be various other options.

But burnout is not caused by extremely hard work or too much responsibilities. Other factors contributing to burnout can be, including certain traits of your character and your lifestyle, how you spend time when you are forced to inactivity, how you look at the world. All of these can also play a large role in the occurrence of burnout, both at work and during household chores.

Possible work-related causes of burnout:

• little or no control over the work performed;
• lack of recognition and reward for good work;
• fuzzy, blurry or overly demanding work;
• performing monotonous and primitive work;
• chaotic work or high pressure from the environment.

Lifestyle as a cause of burnout:

• too much work, in which there is no time for communication and rest;
• excessive responsibilities without sufficient help from others;
• lack of sleep;
• lack of family and friends or support from them.

Burnout Traits:

• perfectionism;
• pessimism;
• desire to keep everything under control;
• unwillingness to delegate responsibilities to others;
• personality type A.

Warning signs and symptoms of burnout

Burnout occurs gradually over a long period of time. It does not come suddenly, overnight. If you don't pay attention to the warning signs of burnout in time, it will certainly come. These signs are invisible at first, but they get worse over time. Remember that early signs of burnout are warning signs or red flags that tell you that something is wrong with you and a decision must be made to prevent a breakdown. If you ignore them, you will end up with burnout syndrome.

How can emotions reduce stress?Burnout prevention

If you recognize the warning signs of impending burnout in yourself, you will be able to get out of this state faster. Remember that your condition will worsen even more if you let them out of your sight and leave everything as it was. But if you take steps to balance your life, you can prevent burnout from turning into a full blown breakdown.

Burnout Prevention Tips

• Develop a specific relaxation ritual for yourself. For example, as soon as you wake up, immediately get out of bed. Do the meditation for at least fifteen minutes. Read something that inspires you. Listen to your favorite music.
• Eat healthy foods and exercise. When you eat right, engage in regular physical activity, and get plenty of rest, you will have higher energy and resilience to life's troubles and demands.
• Don't play along with anyone. If you do not agree with something, then firmly answer "no", agree - "yes". Trust me, it's not difficult. Don't overexert yourself.
• Take a daily technological break for yourself. Set a time when you can completely disconnect. Leave alone your laptop, phone, social networks, email. Analyze the past day, pay more attention to the positive moments.
• Support your creativity. It is a powerful antidote that can help you fight burnout. Create some new interesting project, come up with a new hobby, etc.
• Use stress prevention techniques. If you're still on the road to burnout, try to prevent stress by using meditation techniques, take breaks from work, write your thoughts in a journal, do your favorite hobbies, and other activities that have nothing to do with your work.

How to recover from burnout?

First, you must check to see if you are really diagnosed with burnout syndrome. CMEA is often misdiagnosed. In fact, there may be either more subtle symptoms of stress or more severe illness such as depressive episodes. You can either consult a doctor or test yourself using a checklist. You can find it on the Internet.

Secondly, when you come to the conclusion that you are suffering from burnout, you should start treatment right away, as it can become chronic. You need to take burnout very seriously. Continuing to work as before, forgetting about fatigue, this means causing further emotional and physical damage and aggravating your condition, from which it will be very difficult to get out in the future. Here are just a few burnout recovery strategies.

Recovery Strategy # 1: Slow Down

If the final stage of burnout has come, try to look with different eyes at everything that brought you to this state. Think and take care of your health. You should reconsider your attitude towards your work and personal life, force yourself to consider taking a break from work and getting medical treatment.

Recovery Strategy # 2: Get Support

When you are burned out, the natural tendency is to isolate yourself in order to protect the remaining energy in you. This is a step in the wrong direction. During these difficult times, your friends and family are more important to you than ever. Contact them for support. Just share your feelings with them, it may alleviate your condition a little.

Recovery Strategy # 3: Redefine Your Goals and Priorities

If you have reached the stage of burnout, it is likely that something in your life is going wrong. Analyze everything, reassess your values. You must properly respond to warning signs as an opportunity to redefine your current life. Take time to consider what makes you happy and what is important to you. If you find that you are neglecting significant activities or people in your life, change your attitude accordingly.

To cope with burnout, admit your losses

Burnout brings with it many losses that often go unrecognized. These losses take a lot of your energy. They require a tremendous amount of emotional strength from you. When you acknowledge your losses and allow yourself not to be sad about them, you will regain the lost energy and open yourself up to healing. What losses are we talking about?

• Loss of ideals or dreams with which you entered your career.
• Loss of the role or identity that originally came with your job.
• Loss of physical and emotional energy.
• Loss of friends and a sense of community.
• Loss of dignity, self-esteem and a sense of control and mastery.
• Loss of joy, meaning and purpose that make work and life worthwhile.

How to deal with burnout?

The concept of emotional burnout appeared in the distant 70s, when the American psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberg tried to characterize the emotional exhaustion that was more and more prevalent in society. The syndrome can hardly be classified as complete mental illnesshowever, its manifestations often border on very anxious states.

Burnout - the main symptoms

Emotional exhaustion syndrome is a problem most common among workaholics, whose professional activity is to constantly communicate with people and take care of others. It would seem that it is the desire to take care and give their attention to people that leads some to the activities of a teacher, doctor or social worker. However, the number of occupational stresses associated with specializations such as "Man-man", exceeds performance in any other activity.

The constant excitement and the need to show warmth and a humanistic attitude, sooner or later, can overload the internal generator of positive feelings - and then a person loses energy to the last drop. Emotional and psychological balance disorders appear at a certain moment, depending on the intensity of work, conditions and personal factors.

So, for example, it has been calculated that the average rate of emotional burnout of teachers is 5 years. This means that after 5 years of hard work, most teachers lose interest in their own activities. Losing positive emotions in relation to the profession, such people risk completely losing interest in their work.

Hardly anyone will argue that the success of this or that enterprise largely depends on the mood. And the fact that the state of mind directly affects the physical form, almost every adult can confirm from their own experience. The violation of the emotional component in burnout syndrome manifests itself in a complex manner. Hence, psychologists single out several groups of characteristic symptoms at once.

Emotional symptoms are expressed in the following states:

• pessimism;
• depression;
• increased irritability and aggressiveness;
• tiredness and apathy;
• complete collapse of ideals;
• guilt;
• irrational worry;
• loss of focus;
• callousness even in relation to close people;
• depersonalization of oneself and others.

Physical symptoms are expressed as follows:

In the behavioral aspect, the symptoms of emotional burnout at work are expressed in impulsiveness, justification for smoking and drinking alcohol, and unwillingness to work. In addition, there is a decrease in the patient's intellectual potential and the desire to escape from any kind of social activity.

As can be seen from the above symptoms, CMEA covers all spheres of human activity. In other words, under the influence of the syndrome, the patient completely changes in personal and professional terms. However, knowing the symptoms, you can start treating burnout fairly quickly and return the person to their normal, healthy life.

Who is at risk?

As mentioned earlier, the syndrome is extremely common in certain professions. However, this ailment can be caught not only in social work or in activities that require permanent care for others.

• adherence to principles in judgments;
• excellent diligence;
• increased sense of responsibility;
• extremes and maximalism;
• perfectionism;
• complete self-control;
• altruism and tendency to self-sacrifice;
• decreased self-esteem;
• obsession with ideas;
• excessive daydreaming.

Many will note that most these qualities can be considered extremely positive. But it is precisely such people, with a kind heart and a developed sense of responsibility, who are most prone to depletion of emotions.

People who are accustomed to various addictions are also at risk of burnout. So, if a person is inclined to stimulate his activity with the help of alcohol, energy drinks or neurostimulants, then a similar natural function of the body suffers on this basis.

In addition to workers, whose work involves constant communication, the CMEA can strike even a housewife. The fact is that systematic monotonous actions performed daily can provoke a lack of communication, which also has a detrimental effect on the state of mind. And if we are talking about a young mother who, day after day, is forced to devote 90% of her time to babies, without being distracted by any hobbies or her own interests, CMEA is practically inevitable.

A special risk group is made up of specialists who spend a lot of time with psychologically unstable individuals. This includes psychologists and psychiatrists, and staff at care centers and correctional institutions. The vocation of such people is to provide psychological support to others, and, as a rule, they are expected to be especially resilient.

But it is these professionals who most often become hostages of the CMEA. A feeling of hopelessness and debt, which then develops into exhaustion syndrome, can also be infected by a person who is forced to care for a sick relative.

Another category of risk is represented by people who, for one reason or another, cannot work by vocation. But for creative people, CMEA generally can be attributed to the category occupational diseases, in particular, among actors, artists and writers, who are in many respects psychologically dependent on the assessment of their activities by others.

A separate factor shaping the conditions for CMEA is the absence of healthy competition in the professional environment or the complete disorganization of the work process. Hard work devoid of a vector is the right way burn out at work.

How to deal with burnout: treatment effectiveness

The treatment of the syndrome and its effectiveness depends, first of all, on the patient himself. But as the very first steps that should be taken by the patient, you need to recognize the fact of the disease and slow down the pace of life and work.

It was the lack of rest and precious time devoted to oneself that led a person to such a position.

Emotional burnout belongs to the category of terms that everyone knows about, but believe that this phenomenon rarely occurs in practice. Although in reality this is far from the case. The syndrome of psychological (emotional) burnout is widespread, but the peculiarities of the national mentality do not allow people to show dissatisfaction with their professional activities.

What is burnout syndrome?

The concept of psychological syndrome includes a complex of signs that determines the emotional experiences of a person that do not go beyond the limits of psychological health, are not psychopathological.

Psychological syndrome is the starting point for the appearance of psychopathological disorders and.

The term "burnout syndrome" was first defined in 1974 by G. Fredenberg, an American psychiatrist. He attributed this definition to the emotional exhaustion of people, leading to changes in social life and the sphere of communication.

In essence, burnout is similar to chronic fatigue. And in essence, the syndrome is its continuation. No one is immune from this condition. Representatives of any profession, even housewives, are susceptible to negative attitudes towards their own work. This is especially evident in people with a deep sense of responsibility, inclined to take everything to heart, to be active and creative.

The essence of this syndrome is manifested in the fact that work, which for a long time was desired and loved, ceased to please, and, on the contrary, began to cause irritation. A person has an acute reluctance to go to work, he feels inner tension. In addition to the psychological reaction, vegetative manifestations appear: headache, problems of cardiovascular activity, exacerbation of chronic diseases.

The psychological state of burnout can adversely affect human health, family relationships, and work interactions.

Representatives of any profession are prone to burnout, but especially often this syndrome characterizes the actions of doctors, teachers, psychologists, psychiatrists, rescuers, law enforcement officers, that is, those people who, due to their professional duties, must constantly communicate with people or may experience stress in the process of work ...

Syndrome psychological burnout usually characteristic of altruists who tend to put public interests above their own.

Causes and factors of psychological burnout syndrome

Speaking about factors and reasons, it is necessary to determine the main differences between these concepts. The reasons are discussed in the case when the fact of burnout has already taken place. The factors give us the basis for the possibility of preventing this condition. Naturally, factors can cause burnout. But, if you determine in time the presence of factors and eliminate their influence, you can save a person from such a disorder.

The most common factors affecting the onset of the syndrome:

• Routine. If a person has to constantly carry out a number of the same assignments, while causing negative emotions, then at a certain time there may be mental overwork. At the same time, rest solves this problem only for a short time. Even the thought of a future job can cause negative reactions.
• Concerns about the life and health of other children. At the same time, the depth of the syndrome is in direct proportion to the intensity of work. For this reason, burnout is often seen in rescuers and doctors.
• Strict mode of operation. This factor has a negative impact on the attitude towards work in general, and on the components of this component in particular. A person can get upset early, late end of the working day, work on weekends, distance from home, irregular working hours. The daily overpowering of oneself in dealing with regime issues can cause constant tension, which develops into a psychological syndrome.
• Emotionally rich relationships with colleagues and bosses. A situation of constant conflict can cause negative reactions in any person. This is especially true for people sensitive to any tension in a relationship.
• An emotional and creative attitude to one's duties, which cannot grow into a stream of creative deeds. A similar situation is typical of creative professions: actors, writers, composers, as well as teachers. The manifestation of creativity requires large mental (emotional) costs, which develop into a high-quality creative product of activity. Constantly "laying out" yourself to such an extent is impossible. And even with a very strong effort, it becomes difficult to "surpass" yourself and make the project better than the previous one. This can cause a number of negative psychological manifestations, the complex summation of which is defined as burnout syndrome.

Modern psychology distinguishes several syndromes that are actually the initial ones for burnout syndrome:

• long-term psychological stress syndrome;
• chronic fatigue syndrome;
• decreased performance syndrome.

The mechanism behind the onset of psychological burnout syndrome is simple and consists of several stages:

Stage 1 - increased attention to their work. The first time after employment, a person tries to prove himself very actively and responsibly: the work is carefully performed, the deadlines are strictly observed.

At the same time, the new employee lingers at the workplace without any problems, performs increased loads, puts public interests at the head, not personal ones, shows creativity. Moreover, the first time the employee receives praise for such diligence, but after a certain period of time it becomes a habit, and the employee does not receive satisfaction from his own activities. This causes the appearance of nervous and physical exhaustion.

Stage 2 - detachment. By “squeezing himself out,” the employee begins to notice that professional activity does not cause him personal positive or negative emotions. The work is done automatically and is perceived as routine and obligatory. If this requires communication with other people, then delving into other people's problems becomes simply impossible. The employee becomes incapable of empathy or creativity, the work is done just formally.

Stage 3 - loss of efficiency. Routine, as a rule, does not evoke professional desires and emotional reactions, which does not lead to satisfaction with professional activity. This stage negatively affects professional skills and experience.

An uninitiated passive employee is not interesting to the bosses. As a rule, at first, a person begins to compare with himself with conclusions about his own worthlessness and degradation as a professional. Needless to say, such conclusions exacerbate the situation of a professional attitude towards oneself and lead to dismissal.

Manifestations of psychological burnout syndrome

Burnout syndrome manifests itself in all areas of human activity:

• Physical symptoms: fatigue, insomnia, shortness of breath, nausea, high blood pressure, violations of the cardiovascular system.
• Emotional symptoms: callousness, aggressiveness, anxiety, tantrums, hopelessness, depression.
• Behavioral symptoms: loss of appetite, lack of interest in food, inability to concentrate, irritability, alcoholism and tobacco smoking.
• Social symptoms: lack of interest in life, refusal of hobbies, dissatisfaction with life, anxiety, complaints of misunderstanding.
• Intellectual symptoms: loss of desire for professional growth, formal fulfillment of their professional duties, lack of interest in innovations at work.

Prevention of psychological burnout syndrome

Burnout treatment is a complex and lengthy process. Its effectiveness depends equally on the desire of the patient and the professionalism of the psychiatrist or psychologist.

Usually, people feel tired at the end of a work shift, towards the end of a work week, or just before vacation. Unfortunately, there are times when you feel overworked all the time. In doing so, you notice a lack of enthusiasm for the job. Together with fatigue, its faithful companions settle in your consciousness: detachment, cynicism and indifference. Burnout is evident.

The scourge of modern people

Burnout symptoms have become more common lately. This is due to modern labor realities and a busy pace of life. Employers are becoming more demanding and working conditions more and more stressful. The situation is often complemented by a turbulent team environment, intrigue and gossip. Let's talk about what causes burnout and how you can overcome it.

Scorched house analogy

The term "burnout" itself was coined in the 70s of the 20th century by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger. There is a clear relationship here with the concepts of "scorched earth" or "scorched house". If you've ever walked past a burnt-down building, you know how sad and dismal the sight is. Wooden buildings burn out almost to the ground, leaving only part of the walls. Concrete structures are more lucky. But if outwardly damaged brick houses hardly change their appearance, then inside the eyes of the observer appears a sad sight. You will be amazed at how fierce the fire can be, and what the scale of the disaster can be. Dr. Freudenberger drew an analogy with scorched concrete and burnout in humans. Outside, a person practically does not change, but his inner resources are completely devastated.

Three degrees of burnout

Modern researchers distinguish three degrees of burnout: exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficiency. Let's take a closer look at what all these stages lead to. Burnout exhaustion causes feelings of anxiety, difficulty sleeping, lack of focus, and even physical illness. Cynicism is sometimes called depersonalization or self-perception disorder. At the same time, a person's own actions are perceived not from the inside, but from the outside. One gets a strong feeling that one has lost control over oneself, there is a feeling of alienation from the people with whom a person works, a lack of interest in work. And finally, the third factor takes away the confidence that you are doing well or that you are doing well at your function. This feeling does not grow out of nowhere.

No one wants to fall into the trap of burnout. On the one hand, everything is simple: you need not to overload yourself with work. But, on the other hand, everything is much more complicated, and trouble can sneak up suddenly. To know how to deal with this condition, you need to be able to determine the causes of its occurrence.

What Causes Burnout?

In fact, it's a common misconception that burnout comes from a lack of days off and vacations. Here is what Alexandra Michel, a science writer at the Association for the Psychological Sciences, says: “Burnout occurs when there are more negative factors associated with work than positive ones. When the project deadline is tight, the boss's demands are too high, there is a shortage of working time and other stress factors are present. At the same time, work remuneration, peer recognition and relaxation take up much less space. ”

Terms

UC Berkeley professor Christina Maslach has been studying this problem since the 70s. An expert and colleagues suggested six factors of the workplace environment that are responsible for burnout. These include burden, control, reward, value, community, and fairness. A person feels emotional emptiness when two or more of the factors listed above do not meet his needs. For example, an employee has a small salary with excessively high demands and hard work. Unfortunately, many jobs cannot meet the basic needs of staff. One large study by Gallop in Germany found that 2.7 million workers reported burnout symptoms. In 2013, a survey was conducted among directors of enterprises in the UK, which revealed the following: 30 percent of managers believe that the staff of their firms is subject to massive burnout.

Risks and consequences

The consequences of this phenomenon are comparable only to a catastrophe of a universal scale. According to Dr. Michelle, burnout is not just a state of mind. This condition leaves an indelible mark on the brains and bodies of people. Fatigue and loss of interest in work is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the risks of burnout are more serious. People with burnout suffer from chronic psychosocial stress that is detrimental to personal and social functioning. This suppresses cognitive skills and adversely affects the neuroendocrine system. Over time, the effects of burnout lead to memory problems and decreased concentration. There are also great risks of mental harm, in particular, the occurrence of a depressive disorder.

Burnout affects brain function

This problem has been studied by scientists many times. For example, one of the more recent scientific studies showed that people suffering from emotional burnout, the prefrontal cortex of the brain becomes thinner. This important department is responsible for cognitive function. Typically, the prefrontal cortex becomes thinner with age as the body naturally ages. But, as we can see, this process, under certain conditions, can start much earlier.

Risks of ischemic heart disease

Stress and other negative emotions cannot but affect the work of the heart. Another study of nearly 9,000 workers exposed to burnout showed that this category has a significantly increased risk. ischemic disease hearts. These and other consequences sound rather dark, so let's turn the topic in a more positive direction. Fortunately, you can overcome burnout.

How to overcome the problem?

When a person experiences the effect of burnout, they are concerned about their condition. The first thing that can ease panic is to reduce the amount of work done. Psychologists suggest looking for ways to manage the load in the following tricks: delegating assignments, the ability to refuse help, and keeping a diary. There you can write down the conditions that make you feel stressed in the workplace. Burnout isn't just about workload, however. Learn to look at the world with wide eyes again, try to enjoy relaxation, hobbies, and any cute non-work-related moments. In order to balance the negative and the positive, you need to learn to enjoy life again.

Do what you like

It's easy to forget about yourself when you're going through a period of burnout. You live under constant stress, so the only outlet is an increase in the number of delicious meals in your diet. However, sweets will not relieve you of the problem itself. And here healthy eating, enough water and exercise can quickly get you back to normal. Try to do what you like, take time to meet with friends. In conclusion, here are the words of the developer software Kent Nguyen: "Burnout comes from not being able to do what you love or what is important to you on a regular basis."