As the first post at Burnout Prevention Therapy, it only feels right to make it about Burnout and a brief introduction to the subject. Burnout is a response to prolonged exposure to chronic stressors on the job. This affects individuals in 3 primary ways: overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism, and feeling ineffective or unaccomplished (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). These 3 areas of distress are often amplified in people who are starting to feel burned out as our perception of external and internal stressors can change, making the experiences feel even more unbearable. It sometimes even begins to feel like this is just how things are, which can lead to a feeling of hopelessness. This is why it is important to identify if you are experiencing symptoms of burnout.
Overwhelming Exhaustion
One of the primary symptoms of burnout is an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. This can be noticed in not wanting to go to work, feeling drained of energy at the end of the day, seemingly being unable to concentrate at work, or a combination of all of the above. While burnout results from stressors at work, it affects home life as well. We often feel we don’t have time or energy to do the things we love or spend time with our family or finds. We might find ourselves feeling more irritable, getting into disagreements with our partner or kids more often. It can make it difficult to truly separate and decompress from the workday. This can lead to feeling even more exhausted as time goes on since we never feel we really get the break we need.
Cynicism
While this can affect home life and how we interact with our loved ones, it also displays itself quite heavily at work. “We’re having another meeting, this can only be bad news”; “What fires am I going to have to put out today?”; “I wish these clients/patients/coworkers would just give me a good day for once” are all variations of cynical thoughts one might experience. Even a career we may truly love in a position we considered to be a dream job can start to feel dreary as we seemingly encounter more and more problems. At the same time, we start to attach to the reasons we started in the first place less. We become unable to see the good we do or even benefits we may gain as it feels the burdens of the position overshadow them.
Feeling Ineffective or Unaccomplished
This attachment to our negative experiences and detachment from our purpose can couple with another dimension of burnout, feeling ineffective or unaccomplished in our role. This can include feelings of doubt, wondering why you chose this field, questioning if you’re good enough for it, worrying you might do more harm than good. Stress can escalate as you may consistently worry if you made a mistake or just “when the other shoe will drop.” As we detach from our purpose and feelings of accomplishment, stressors tend to hit us even harder.
If you find that you are suffering from constant exhaustion and are feeling less connected with and more cynical toward your job, it may be a sign that you are experiencing burnout. Burnout tends to escalate if left unchecked, but it can be overcome once we realize what we are dealing with. If you identified with these symptoms and are unsure of how to move forward, you can schedule a free consultation with us today.
Burnout Prevention Therapy 