How can we avoid becoming burned out?

Burnout is a psychological phenomenon characterised by exhaustion, often due to overextending ourselves at work. In his latest article, renowned London-based psychologist Dr Victor Thompson offers his expert insight into this condition.

How does burnout differ from stress or depression?

Burnout is quite different from stress or depression. With depression, people suffer from a low mood, a negative mindset and withdrawal from social situations. They often start to take less care of themselves, and become more irritable.

Stress involves worry, anxiety, and a sense of pressure. Our external circumstances can be causing this stress. However, burnout often happens when we are doing too much for too long. It can creep up on us, and there is no obvious day or event that caused it, it is more of a gradual development.

How can people identify burnout? What are the signs?

Some of the signs of burnout are physical or mental fatigue. You feel worn out yet stimulated, and you can feel restless and agitated. There is an increase in the intensity of your emotions, so you can get upset more easily, or feel more angry, irritable or anxious.

It can also lead to feelings of numbness. People describe losing their feelings of drive or ambition, or a lack of compassion.

It can also disturb sleep, making us feel as though we haven’t recovered after a night’s rest. People suffering from burnout also report feeling as if they get no relief, for example in the evenings after work or over the weekends.

When does burnout appear? What can cause burnout?

Burnout can appear at any time in our lives.  It is not just something that happens to people of a certain age. It could happen to anyone who overextends themselves or gives too much for too long, often in a work situation. While we can do this for a while, if this impossibly high demand for what we give is never ending, burnout can creep up on us.  

Burnout can develop due to the combination of challenges in different areas of life, for example, if work is moderately demanding but other life circumstances create pressure or stress.

What can happen if burnout is left untreated?

If burnout is left untreated, there may be a collapse for the individual. If you continue to push yourself continuously without heeding the warning signs, your body will break. It will find a way of taking you out of the situation.

If your immune system is compromised, you may make more mistakes or errors, or you may make poorer decisions. If you are working in a caring profession, you may care less about the care you are giving or the people you are caring for. This can result in errors or a bad performance at work.

How is burnout treated? What type of support is available?

Even though burnout is not a widely recognised psychological condition, treatments do exist for burnout:

• Take time away from the demands of life as best as you can.
• Getting more sleep
• Leading a slower life with fewer demands.
• Decreasing the to-do list
• Sports and exercise can be great but more intense sports can add to stress on your system
• Psychologically look for the contributors to your situation of burnout. A fear of failure, the need to be perfect or please other people, and obsessively high standards can all contribute to you being more burned out.

How can people protect themselves from experiencing burnout?

There are several things you can do to protect yourself from getting burned out in your life:

• Having variety in your day or week
• Taking time to chill out, rest and recover, particularly if you feel overwhelmed or fatigued
• Increasing your awareness of what your warning signs may be, particularly if you are feeling overstretched
• Watching out for changes in your mood, such as becoming more irritable, or more upset
•  Identify a style in your thinking that may be contributing to feelings of burnout. If you hold yourself to a very high standard and are completely inflexible about this standard, especially in an ever-demanding situation, you may become burned out
• Taking good holidays, which gives you time to relax and recover. Working 51 weeks of the year and taking just one week’s holiday is not a good recipe for success.

Dr Victor Thompson is a renowned psychologist with over 20 years of experience. If you would like to book a consultation with Dr Thompson, you can do so today via his Top Doctors profile.