Burnout

Burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest.

“A general wearing out from the pressures of work.”

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and psysical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose interest or motivation.

Burnout reduces your productivity and finish your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly helpless, hopeless, pessimistic, and angry. Eventually, you may feel like you have nothing more to give.

Burnout is a term which is frequently used to describe the emotional and physical exhaustion experienced by people as a direct result of excessive work related stress. Burnout can cause significant physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual damage to people.

EXAMPLE

Most of us have days when we feel bored, overloaded, or unappreciated;

If you feel like this most of the time, however, you may be flirting with burnout.

You may be on the road to burnout if:

Dealing wirh burnout: the “Three R” approach

Recognize - Watch for the warning signs of burnout

Reverse - Undo the damage by managing stress and seeking support

Resilience - Build your resilience (hardness) to stress by taking care of your physical and emotional health

Difference between stress and burnout

Stress involves too much: too many pressures that demand too much of you physically and psychologically. Stressed people can still imagine, though, that if they can just get everything under control, they’ll feel better.

Burnout, on the other hand, is about not enough. Being burned out means feeling empty, devoid of motivation, and beyond caring. People experiencing burnout often don’t see any hope of positive change in their situations. Burnout is being all dried up. One of the difference between stress and burnout: while you’re usually aware of being under a lot of stress, you don’t always notice burnout when it happens.

Causes of burnout

There are many causes of burnout. In many cases,burnout stems from the job. Anyone who feels overworked and undervalued is at risk for burnout - from the hardworking office worker who hasn’t had a vacation or a raise in two years to the stay-at-home mom struggling with the heavy responsibility of taking care of three kids, the housework, and her aging father.

But burnout is not caused solely by stressful work or too many responsibilities. Other factors contribute to burnout, including your lifestyle and certain personality traits. What you do in your downtime and how you look at the world can play just as big of a role in causing burnout as work or home demands.