‘BURN’out – The Endless Work Stress Cycle

Coming back from work or after meeting daily demands of work, Are you physically, mentally exhausted? Are you sometimes feeling helpless due to excessive demands? Are you feeling stressed? Are you feeling disillusioned? Are you feeling empty? Are you unable to cope with stress and demands? Are you feeling emotionally drained?

If yes, then you might be on a high-risk road towards BURNOUT. 

What is Burnout?

According to ICD – 11 (International Classification of Diseases) as of May 2019 

Burnout is defined as “Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feeling of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and 
3. Reduced professional efficacy.

Burn-out refers specifically to the phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life”

Individuals who are unable to cope with the work stress are at high risk of burnout. The concept of burnout is a reaction to prolonged work stress. Little did we know that this reaction to the work stress, when continued over, a while will cause difficulty in the daily functioning of the individual. 

The term “burnout” was first coined in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger, in his book, Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement. He originally defined burnout as, “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.”

This feeling of burn-out day by day, month by month, year by year is becoming a threat to individuals health resulting in absenteeism and also change in the efficiency levels of performance. According to researchers, burnout is having a continuous and growing impact on the workplaces, especially in advanced economies and during the times of economic downturn.  

Burnout is more likely seen or acquired when employees and employers: Expect too much of themselves, never feel that the work they are doing is good enough, feel inadequate or incompetent, feel unappreciated for their work efforts, have unreasonable demands placed upon them, are in roles that are not a good job fit.

Symptoms:

The process of burnout is gradual. The signs or symptoms are subtle at the beginning but when neglected it will worsen over time and will have a predominant effect on the wellbeing of the individual.

Emotional symptoms: 

1. Sense of self-doubt
2. Sense of failure learned helplessness
3. Feeling trapped and defeated
4. Lack or loss of motivation
5. Feeling alone/ lonely even when in crowd
6. Detachment 
7. Decreased satisfaction and decreased sense of accomplishment
8. An increased cynical and negative outlook

Behavioural symptoms:

1. Usage of substance, alcohol or drugs increases or starts to cope
2. Isolation from other individuals i.e. decrease in the socialisation process
3. Withdrawal from responsibilities
4. Procrastination of work or deliberate delay in work
5. Absenteeism, skipping work
6. Taking the frustration and anger on others like subordinates, family

Physical symptoms:

1. Feeling physically exhausted/ drained
2. Falling sick frequently or decrease in immunity
3. Frequent headaches or muscle stiffness
4. Change in appetite (increase or decrease)

According to researchers, not only work-related are the causes for burnout but also lifestyle, and also personality traits are causes for burnout. 

Work-related causes: role stress, role uncertainty, role ambiguity, lack of recognition or reward or reinforcements or incentives, doing work that is monotonous or unchallenging, working in a chaotic or high-pressure environment

Lifestyle causes: working more than demanded without enough time for relaxation or socialisation, lack of losing close or supportive relationships, taking on more responsibilities and having them executed without support from others, lack of sleep (sound sleep), opting unhealthy way of life.

Personality traits contributions: Perfectionistic tendencies; nothing is ever good feeling, pessimistic view of the world and the one’s role in the world progress (self-devaluation), the need to be in control i.e., the reluctance of the individual to delegate or distribution to subordinates, Type A personality, setting the bars high for achievements.

The individual’s outlook at the world and what he/she does in downtime can play a big role in causing overwhelming work stress and demands

Stress VS Burnout

Burnout can be the result of unyielding stress but it’s not similar to excessive stress. 

Stress, on the whole, involves too much pressure which results in demanding too much of your involvement physically and mentally of the individual. Nevertheless, stressed individuals still have a rosy outlook to the situation that they can get everything under control which will make them feel better. 

Burnout, on the flip side, is about not enough, i.e., the feelings of exhaustion, sadness, learned helplessness, empty and lonely, lack of motivation are crept up in the individual’s sleeves. The individuals having burnout will lack thinking optimistically and lose hope to be better and do better and think that the situations will change for better.

The excessive stress will make the individual feel like he/she is drowning in the responsibilities and work demands whereas burnout is the sense of being all dried up and drained and no ounce of positive attitude to the unfolding of the events. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is undertaking the development of evidence-based guidelines on the mental well-being in the workplace.

Phases of burnout : 

Phase 1: Honeymoon phase- beginning of experiencing predicted stress of the job (start of a new job or having new responsibility and high levels of job satisfaction, optimistic view, bubbling energy, free-flowing creativity and high production levels).   

Phase 2: Onset of stress- during this stage the individual may notice or be aware that some days are good and satisfying and others are downfall and difficult to pass by. There will be a waning of optimistic feeling of progress. An individual can experience many of the following: high blood pressure, irritability, inability to focus, decrease in job satisfaction, anxiety, avoidance of decision making, fatigue, forgetfulness, headaches, lower productivity as compared to the start of the task, the start of lack of social interaction, changes in sleep patterns and appetite/ diet.

Phase 3: Chronic Stress- During this stage, there will be a marked change in stress levels. This stage will have extreme levels of symptoms shown in phase 2 along with the following: lack of hobbies, physical illness, continuous tiredness in the morning, resentfulness, absenteeism, procrastination, exhibiting aggressive behaviour, anger, chronic exhaustion, apathy, growing cynical attitude, denial, increased usage in substances/drugs/ alcohol/ caffeine.

Phase 4: Burnout – In this stage the symptoms present in phase 2 and phase 3 become critical. Having the daily functions to be conducted normally starts to become difficult. This difficulty of not functioning normally in daily activities is the key or a pointer that the individual needs to start seeking professional help. Common symptoms for this phase include a feeling of empty, self-doubt, social isolation, pessimistic outlook, increase in physical symptoms, behavioural changes, chronic headaches, chronic stomach or bowel problems, demotivation, detachment, desire to ‘drop-out’ of society.

Phase 5: Habitual Burnout- This is the final stage of burnout. In this stage, the above-mentioned symptoms and the other symptoms are largely embedded in the individual’s life that the individual is likely to experience consequential and noteworthy changes physically, mentally and emotionally unlike occasional discomfort. During this stage, the person will develop depression (clinical), chronic sadness, burnout syndrome, chronic physical and mental fatigue which result in harming one’s mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. And these changes in individual life will also affect the performance of the work and there will a great effect on the efficiency of the level of one’s productivity.

TIPS to PREVENT burnout affecting 

1. Mindful living
2. Going on a vacation 
3. Change in the diet
4. Take up and religiously pursue and make time for a hobby
5. Guided imaginary 
6. Meditation
7. Practice progressive muscle relaxation or workout frequently or go for a walk
8. Developing a positive self-talk habit
9. Development of assertiveness
10. Expressing gratitude and improving relationships.

 Seeking Professional help :

Therapies like complementary therapies i.e., art therapy, body-mind therapy, music therapy are recommended for the initial stages of the burnout. For burnout syndrome therapies like psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), phytotherapy, physiotherapy, adjuvant pharmacotherapy are to be recommended. 

The always-on and hustle work culture has made the man be on toes to be on top by increasing the work demands, efficiency and productivity of one’s job. While achieving the end the individual’s are in a way falling into the pits of burnout. This feeling of emptiness, sadness, exhaustion mentally and physically are challenging one’s mental health and well-being. The continued effect is leading the individual’s outlook to be more pessimistic and cynical which is eventually leading to isolation and due to the increased demands leading to chronic stress and anxiety. Over some time individual’s self-esteem, assertiveness is reaching rock bottom and self-doubt is exponentially increasing. The feeling of emptiness and sadness is increasing and in the long run, the person Knowingly or Unknowingly is falling into depression. The increase in burnout or assuming the difficulty to be normal is creating distance between one’s soul and body.