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A highly stressful environment, be it at work, home, or school, can be the stem of various health or psychological issues. One of the ways these issues commonly manifest is through burnout.
What is Burnout?
Burnout is a syndrome that develops through chronic and prolonged stress, which appears in the form of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that feels like it cannot go away.
In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) added burnout to the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as one of the factors that can influence a person’s health status.
While it was first identified in professions that primarily deal with caretaking, like healthcare workers such as physicians and nurses, there are now studies that show burnout can be a problem in other occupations (Edú-Valsania, Laguía & Moriano, 2022), and even in parents (Abramson, 2021) and students (Vinter, Aus & Arro, 2020) as well.
If not taken care of, burnout can be a factor that may lead to more significant mental or physical health problems, including anxiety, depression, and even heart disease and diabetes.
Early Signs of Burnout in Others
As burnout is one of the most common forms of issue that is caused by stress and is widespread in different occupations and stages of life, Reyos need to be able to recognize symptoms of burnout in our active listening sessions.
By knowing the early signs of burnout, you can help others understand what’s causing their issues and find ways to cope with these stressors.
Read More: The Do’s and Don’ts of Coping with Stress
There are many ways that burnout can manifest in different people, but the model that researchers most widely use to define burnout contains three major aspects.
These aspects are exhaustion or lethargy, cynicism, anger, and perceived distance regarding their responsibilities and their surrounding environment, and reduced efficacy in finishing their tasks.
1. Chronic Lethargy
The exhaustion that comes with burnout may appear in various ways.
In some people, it may appear as physical and mental fatigue that doesn’t go away even after taking one week of vacation. It can also be the feeling of dread that seems to show up every morning when they get ready for work.
It’s essential to know how to differentiate normal feelings of tiredness or pressure from work and symptoms of burnout.
For example, the pressure you feel from a tight deadline or major projects at work is normal. However, if this feeling of dread doesn’t go away even after the deadline is finished and the project is done, it may be part of the symptoms of burnout.
2. Cynicism
When someone is experiencing burnout, their friends, colleagues, or family may note that they have become irritable, cynical, and quicker to anger than usual.
The cynicism that comes with burnout usually appears first in regard to work, such as a shifting attitude toward their job and wanting to detach from their work environment and their colleagues. They may feel apathy towards their job when they once loved what they do.
For caretaking professionals such as therapists or healthcare workers, this symptom can also manifest in the form of diminished compassion toward their patients or clients.
3. Feelings of Reduced Productivity
People who are burned out also feel less accomplished at work, even when they are working harder or trying to do more than usual.
They may notice that they’re taking longer to finish their tasks or procrastinate more, putting off tasks until the very last minute. They may feel like they’re less efficient in doing their job and they tend to doubt their capability at work.
Burnout can also lead to difficulty concentrating and forgetfulness, which contribute to these feelings of self-doubt.
Helping Others Deal with Burnout
Recognizing burnout is the first step towards successfully bouncing back.
There isn’t any guaranteed way of working with burnout, because burnout may appear differently in different individuals, and what works for someone may not work for others.
However, one thing in common throughout the techniques mainly used to deal with burnout is that they are aimed to improve either their emotional or physical condition or their work environment.
Read More: How to Choose the Right Coping Strategy
Self-care routine is one of the surefire ways to get someone into a better mental state to tackle burnout. Once they have felt better about themselves, they will be able to make bigger decisions or ask for help from their closest circle to handle their burnout directly.
Recognizing burnout may be tricky. Some of its signs, such as exhaustion and irritability, overlap with other mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
Understanding what burnout is and the ways it can manifest in everyday life is an important step for Reyos to become a better active listener.
References:
Abramson, A. (2021, October 1). The impact of parental burnout. Retrieved from American Psychological Association (APA): https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/10/cover-parental-burnout
Edú-Valsania, S., Laguía, A., & Moriano, J. A. (2022). Burnout: A review of theory and measurement. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3), 1780.
Vinter, K., Aus, K., & Arro, G. (2021). Adolescent girls’ and boys’ academic burnout and its associations with cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Educational Psychology, 41(8), 1061-1077.
Workaholic. (n.d.). Burnout. Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/burnoutWorld Health Organization (WHO). (2019, May 28).
World Health Organization. Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. Retrieved from World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
