The phrase ‘burnout’ is often referred to most commonly in relation to work or when someone is experiencing a stressful time in their life. In this blog, our Clinical Psychologist at Aspris Wellbeing Centre Dubai, Jelena Lubenko, explains what burnout is and how to recover.
Understanding burnout syndrome
Burnout is a complex, psychological phenomenon: a state of overall mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
There is no single factor leading to burnout, but rather a combination of factors which can make you more vulnerable to this severe condition. If you feel like you are working really hard but not getting anywhere or you feel extremely unhappy about your job, it’s a good time to take a break and reflect on your state of mind, inner resources and possible markers of burnout.
Identifying burnout symptoms
There are three key signs of burnout syndrome:
- Mental fatigue or emotional exhaustion – extreme tiredness and lack of interest in things you usually enjoy
- Depersonalisation – feeling like your thoughts and feelings don’t belong to you or aren’t real
- Reduced personal efficacy – unable to perform tasks to the expected degree
Emotional burnout can feel like being drained of energy and having a lack of inner resources needed to manage everyday tasks and to produce the desired results. This feeling of exhaustion and fatigue does not go away after a night's sleep.
Depersonalisation is a mental distancing. A person becomes disengaged, the working process becomes impersonal and formal, which leads to negative feelings and perceptions about the work itself and colleagues. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation result in decreased feelings of personal accomplishment, insufficiency, and failure. Those who are burnt out feel that the results of their work are not worth the effort put into it, experience the decrease in their productivity and usually do not see the prospects for development.
Exploring burnout causes
Since the 1970s, it has been thought that the development of work burnout was driven by an unfavourable working environment and workload. However, during the last decade, research has highlighted the importance of individual personality factors connecting the vulnerability and resilience to burnout.
There are three major sets of factors which can put us at a higher risk of burnout:
- Work-related factors:
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- High job demands and low reward (not enough pay, acknowledgment, or satisfaction)
- Workload (too much work, not enough resources)
- Lack of control, lack of influence, accountability without power
- Lack of job support and fairness (discrimination, favouritism)
- Unclear job expectations and meaningless tasks
- Chaotic or high-pressure environment
- Lifestyle factors:
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- Working too much, without enough time for socialising or relaxing
- Lack of close, supportive relationships
- Taking on too many commitments, without enough help from others
- Not getting enough sleep
- Factors associated with personality:
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- Hypersensitivity to changes and negative events
- Perfectionism: Nothing is ever good enough
- Unrealistic expectations and inability to ask for help
- Necessity to be in control: Difficulties to delegate and rely on others
- Difficulties to set boundaries and say no
As soon as you identify any of these factors in your daily life ask yourself:
- How does this factor influence my psychological state and productivity at work?
- Can I do anything to address or change this?
Steps to recover from burnout
If you find yourself on the verge of burnout, you can stop this from escalating further by following these steps:
- Explore your situation, your main priorities and main difficulties – try to figure out how you got here and which features in your environment and personality contribute to your burnout
- Seek support and professional help – this isn’t always an easy problem to solve, and a professional can help you work through this and make positive changes
- Pay attention to your needs and take responsibility for your mental state – start taking care of some basic physical needs such as proper sleep, healthy meals and breaks for your rest
- Schedule your rest in your daily calendar like you schedule your work meeting – make sure that nothing can interrupt activities which allow you to recharge and relax
- Prioritise your tasks – make sure you spend sufficient time for activities of the greatest value for you
Our experts such as Dr Jelena Lubenko are experienced in helping people recover from burnout and helping ensure they don’t feel like this in the future. If you’d like us to help get your life back on track, please get in touch.
Contact us today
If you’d like to speak to one of our friendly team of experts about burnout or any of our mental health services, please contact us today on (+971) 4 385 4493 for our Dubai clinic, or (+971) 2 651 8111 for our Abu Dhabi clinic. Alternatively, click here if you would like to make an online enquiry.