How To Tell If You’re Burnt Out (& Tips to Manage It)
Are you feeling emotionally and physically drained from your job? Do you find yourself getting overwhelmed by things that never used to bother you? Do you find yourself feeling underappreciated and unaccomplished, leading you to fantasize about quitting your job?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might be experiencing burnout. Burnout is a psychological experience many people have from working in chronically stressful environments. So how are you able to tell if you are suffering from burnout? What is the difference between burnout and stress? What causes Burnout? What are ways you can manage burnout? This blog addresses these questions and how we can combat burnout in our ever stressful world.
See also: individual counselling
Defining Burnout
By now, chances are you have heard of the word “burnout”. It seems to be a popular word floating around these days- with many of us feeling the emotional and mental toll of the pandemic. So, what exactly is defined as burnout?
The American Psychological Association defines Burnout as “physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, accompanied by lowered performance, and negative attitudes towards oneself and others”. Burnout is the result of prolonged levels of stress, tension and exhaustion from physical or mental exertion taking its toll (APA, 2020).
Burnout, now an official medical diagnosis recognized by the World Health Organization, was first recognized since 1975 by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, as a psychological term to define service-oriented vocational workers experiencing high levels of caseloads. Freudenberger identified burnout was most prevalent in professionals working in service-oriented vocations (teachers, social workers, psychologists, correctional officers) and experienced chronic high levels of stress. Modern definitions of burnout recognize that this is not only reserved for those in these professions, but is more understood as a general term to define worker burnout and a form of job stress.
The Three Dimensions of Burnout
Burnout can be classified by three dimensions; exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy.
Exhaustion- The exhaustion dimension is characterized by the feelings of wearing out, loss of energy, depletion, debilitation, fatigue, feeling of stress.
Cynicism- (originally known as Depersonalization) characterized by negative or inappropriate attitudes towards others, withdrawal and loss of motivation.
Inefficacy- characterized by reduced personal accomplishment, reduced productivity, low morale, and lack of coping with stress.
What Causes Burnout?
Research of burnout over the years has understood there to be a causal relationship between individual and situational factors that cause people to burnout, suggesting that certain factors may play a key role in determining whether or not someone is experiencing it.
Research on burnout has identified six key domains of organizational risk factors across many occupations (Maslach & Leiter, 2016).
Workload
Having a workload that matches your capacity allows for you to effectively get work done, while having time to rest and recover. When we are chronically overloaded, opportunities for work life balance are non-existent.
Control
Feeling a lack of say, autonomy, trust, and lack of say in decisions can take a toll in our well-being over time. To assess your level of control in your job ask yourself the following: Do you feel like you need to always be on call? Do you feel you have adequate boundaries in place?
Reward
Do the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for your job match the time and effort you are putting forth? If not, you are likely not going to feel the payoff of your hard work.
Community
Who do you work with? Are they people you feel you can trust and rely on for support? Burnout and low morale can spread quickly throughout offices so reflect on your role in your community- what might you need to shift within it to create a better environment for your community?
Fairness
Do you believe you are receiving fair and equitable treatment at work? If you aren’t feeling recognized for your contributions, and that others may get more feedback than yourself, speak up and advocate for yourself within your role. You may find that doing this combats the possibility of developing burnout.
Values
How important is it that your ideals and values match with the company you are working for? If you are finding that your values do not align with your employer, you may notice your motivation and desire to work hard significantly decrease.
Take a moment to reflect on the six areas that can lead to burnout outlined above. Did you find yourself aligning or resonating with any of the following? If so, it may be time to reflect on what you can actively do now in order to resolve and address the potential development of burnout.
What is the Difference Between Burnout and Stress?
We have all been there- weeks we are so stressed at our jobs that we feel like our world is crumbling around us and we are unable to cope with the stress we are faced with. You may lose motivation during these times of stress, and even fantasize about what it might be like not to be working any longer. But does this mean that you are burnt out? How are you able to tell the difference between burnout and stress?
The APA defines stress as the physiological or psychological response to internal or external stressors. Stress influences how systems respond and therefore affects how we behave. Stress is characterized by being over-engaged in our work or personal life, feeling overactive and overwhelmed emotions, and loss of energy. Chronic stress has the potential to develop into physical concerns if not managed properly.
The main difference between burnout and stress is the former causes disengagement and the latter causes over engagement. Stress leads to overactive emotions, increased potential to develop anxiety and anxiety related disorders, along with physical ailments associated with stress. Burnout, on the other hand, leads to disengagement, withdrawal, and feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Research suggests that chronic, prolonged exposure to stress with inadequate coping can lead to the development of burnout (Maslach & Leiter, 2016).
See also: 10 Ways to Reduce Stress You Can Do at Home & Work
How To Tell If You are Burnt Out & How To Manage It
The significant increase in the occurrence of burnout, and the impact that it has on both an individual and organizational level has led to the exploration of many different intervention strategies to manage the symptoms. Not surprisingly, managing burnout is not unlike how we manage stress. Here are some of the most common recommendations for managing burnout:
Changing Work Patterns
It may be vital that work patterns are changed and adapted to better suit your capacity for working while recovering from burnout. This may entail reducing hours worked, taking more breaks, avoiding overtime work, and maintaining a better work-life balance. Something I have noticed throughout my practice over the duration of the pandemic is that many people are not taking the necessary breaks in order to best support their mental health throughout the day. Without having to commute into work, people are at their computers earlier and signing off later. In the long run, this is a sure-fire way to develop burnout if not managed properly.
Developing Coping Skills
This may come without saying, but developing coping skills to combat the symptoms and experience of burnout is vital. This may include developing strategies around conflict resolution, time management, and restructuring and challenging our negative thinking. As the second stage Cynicism explains, burnout can cause us to become less tolerant and understanding of people we are engaging with, causing us to become easily frustrated, and developing negative attitudes. To combat this, we may have to actively work hard at challenging our negative internal attitudes and thoughts. Cognitive restructuring requires us to question our own thoughts. For example we may think to ourselves “is me thinking about my client in this way beneficial to our relationship in the long run” or “is it fair to assume that X did this on purpose?”
Social Support
Make sure you are finding outlets for your stress and burnout in those who are you able to freely share your frustrations and experiences with.
Relaxation Strategies
Find methods of relaxation that are suitable to your needs. These may include yoga, meditation, binaural beat stimulation music, sitting quietly, reading a book, taking a bath, watching a favorite show, or drinking a tea with a loved one.
Health and Fitness
Fitness and nutrition have such a vast impact on our overall well-being. Ensuring that you are properly nourishing your body, along with getting adequate movement and exercise throughout your day is a great way to combat the impacts of burnout. Research initiatives to moderate work demands focus on the implementation of better sleep hygiene, exercise, and nutrition as ways to effectively address the exhaustion component of burnout (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). Try to implement one healthy habit per week; start small by adding something manageable such as drinking enough water throughout the day, or getting outside for a 30 minute walk every day!
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is crucial in understanding whether or not you are experiencing burnout. The better we know ourselves, the better we can recognize when something doesn’t seem to be right. Journaling is an excellent way to develop self-awareness. Start by tracking your daily mood, 3 things you noticed in your day, 3 things that went well for you, 3 things that didn’t go so well, and 1 thing you’d like to focus on for the following day to improve upon. Once you journal consistently you will be able to understand and track patterns. Start to notice if there is anything specific sticking out for you on hard days- what could be causing it and is there any one of the tools above that you might be able to utilize in order to combat it?
In-Person, Telephone and Online Calgary Therapy with FP Counselling
Sometimes it’s difficult to address burnout on your own. If you suspect you may be experiencing burnout and need support in addressing it, FP Counselling offers free 20-minute consultations to see if we might be a good fit for your needs. Our therapists would be more than happy to chat with you and support you in working through burnout and developing coping skills to combat your symptoms!
References
American Psychological Association. (2019).
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20311
Mills, K. (Host) (2021, July 31). Why we’re burned out and what to do about it, with Christina Maslach, PhD. (No. 152) [Audio podcast episode]. In Speaking of Psychology. APA. https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/burnout
Saunders, Elizabeth G. (2019, July 5). 6 Causes of Burnout, and How to Avoid Them [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/07/6-causes-of-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-them
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