Rengganis Rizka Prasanti Most people may know burnout as something only healthcare workers and front liners experience: A stress overload caused by the constant need to perform and keep their emotions in check at work.
Later research studies no longer limit burnout as something experienced by people in service-oriented professions. In fact, anyone experiencing high levels of stress is at risk of burnout.
An Overview of Burnout
Simply put, burnout is a form of chronic exhaustion caused by our occupation (APA, 2020), be it from an unusually high workload or school assignments.
Unlike regular exhaustion from work or school, the fatigue that comes with burnout doesn’t go away after a long weekend or even a week of vacation.
Burnout also comes with other symptoms. Someone who is burned out from work will also resent their job and become cynical about it. They will also start to feel that they lack accomplishment and their productivity has come to a halt.
When Your Job Exhausts You: Workplace Burnout
According to the ICD-11, workplace burnout is categorized as an occupational phenomenon and is defined as a syndrome that results from chronic workplace stress.
Signs of Workplace Burnout
When it comes to workplace burnout, there are some tell-tale signs to look out for.
The most prominent symptom of burnout is chronic exhaustion, both physical and emotional. This exhaustion differs from regular tiredness, as it constantly drains your energy at work and doesn’t go away easily.
The emotional exhaustion results from overextending yourself at work, a lack of boundaries between your job and your personal life, and a heavy workload.
Heavy workload is also the cause of the physical fatigue you feel in burnout. Longer working hours with repetitive tasks and minimum amount of rest can wear down your physical condition.
You may also start to feel detached from your work and less motivated to finish your tasks. This detachment and exhaustion you feel will lead to a decline in your performance at work, feeding to the cycle of burnout (Schaufeli et al., 2019).
Burnout on Students: Academic Burnout
Burnout isn’t something that only workers experience. Since the tasks at school can resemble those in a work environment, burnout can happen to students as well.
In an earlier study by Schaufeli et al. (2002), academic burnout is defined as a three-dimensional syndrome, similar to workplace burnout, that is characterized by chronic exhaustion, withdrawal & detachment, and reduced personal efficacy regarding academic requirements.
Signs of Academic Burnout
Students who are burned out may start to feel like their energy is running out, constantly feeling tired when trying to catch up with academic deadlines
You may find yourself getting overwhelmed by the classes you have to take and the assignments you have to finish.
You may also feel your motivation to study decreasing and start to question yourself about whether or not you should continue your studies.
On the other hand, exerting more energy in your studies ends up exhausting you more. Students with academic burnout also report a decline in their academic achievements (Ye, Huang & Liu, 2021).
Overwhelmed by Parenting: Parental Burnout
While not as well-known as other types of burnout, parental burnout is a type of burnout that potentially has a bigger impact than the others.
If not dealt with, parental burnout is known to also influence how parents interact with their children and may lead to maltreatment (Griffith, 2022) or neglect (Roskam et al., 2021).
Unlike work or academic burnout, it’s much harder for parents to take a break from their role as a parent.
This was especially worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, where 35% of working parents report that they are struggling to balance their responsibilities at work and for childcare (Pew Research Center, 2020).
Signs of Parental Burnout
Physically, burned-out parents may feel symptoms of stress and exhaustion, such as insomnia and poor sleep quality (Sarrionandia-Pena, 2019).
As the levels of exhaustion from parenting grow to become intolerable, burned-out parents may also unknowingly start to emotionally distance themselves from their children.
It becomes harder for you to express affection towards your children, and may also feel the need to physically be away and take a break from your role as a parent.
You may also feel that you’re becoming less and less capable of parenting and slowly feel the joy of parenting decrease over time (Roskam et al., 2021).
How to Manage Burnout
Burnout can grow into other psychological issues if left untreated. However, stress management is a skill anyone can learn to prevent burnout.
To manage our stress, we can first focus on the resources we have. Identify the habits you usually have to cope with stress.
Read More: How to Choose The Right Coping Strategy
For example, we may focus more on improving our mood through physical activity, such as working out and eating healthily. Other people may find mindfulness exercises such as journaling or meditation to be more effective for managing their stress.
Lastly, social support is essential in tackling burnout. It’s proven to be an important factor in burnout prevention among students (Ye, Huang & Liu, 2021), both in the form of emotional care and an outlet for emotional relief.
It may be hard to open up to your family and friends about your struggle with burnout.
HelloReyo provides a platform for you to connect with others and share your story about burnout, anonymously and free of charge.
References
Griffith, A. K. (2022). Parental burnout and child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of family violence, 37(5), 725-731.
Pew Research Center. (2020). About Half of Lower Income Americans Report Household Wage or Job Loss Due to COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/04/21/about-half-of-lower-income-americans-report-household-job-or-wage-loss-due-to-covid-19/
Roskam, I., Aguiar, J., Akgun, E., Arikan, G., Artavia, M., Avalosse, H., … & Mikolajczak, M. (2021). Parental burnout around the globe: A 42-country study. Affective science, 2(1), 58-79.
Sarrionandia-Pena, A. (2019). Effect size of parental burnout on somatic symptoms and sleep disorders. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 88(Suppl. 1), 111–112.
Schaufeli, W. B., Desart, S., & De Witte, H. (2020). Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT)—development, validity, and reliability. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(24), 9495.
Schaufeli, W. B., Martinez, I. M., Pinto, A. M., Salanova, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). Burnout and engagement in university students: A cross-national study. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 33(5), 464-481.
VandenBos, G. R. (2020). APA dictionary of psychology. American Psychological Association.
Ye, Y., Huang, X., & Liu, Y. (2021). Social support and academic burnout among university students: a moderated mediation model. Psychology research and behavior management, 335-344.
