Feeling unproductive and resentful at work?
Get to know how BURNOUT can take away the joy from work and leave you feeling exhausted and depleted.
Written by Dr. Madiha Khan
BURNOUT I’ll begin by sharing a little story about myself. I am a Psychiatrist and I absolutely love my work. Some people pursue this field of medicine because they may think of it as less challenging, less competitive or one with a better work life balance. Others simply go into it because they have an undying passion for it. I belong to the latter category and I take a lot of pride in this- having a true passion for my career. Anyone who knows me well knows how deeply I care about my patients and their wellness. So it was quite surprising for me, when a few months ago, I stopped feeling this passion and in fact started resenting my work. I started feeling bored with work. I would be looking at the clock repeatedly to see when my day would end. I felt exhausted as soon as the workweek began; felt trapped and stuck in an endless routine. I felt cynical and I doubted myself. I would come home in a bad mood with a headache every single day and I would constantly complain about work. Thankfully I identified my burnout and decided to make some changes to address it. Result: Complete resolution of burn out. What is Burnout? Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and at times physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Burnout can be related to many different stresses but the most common one is work related burnout and that’s the one we will be mainly focusing on. SIGNS OF BURNOUT:
- Emotional exhaustion.
- Feeling depleted.
- Experiencing cynicism, anger or irritability.
- Reduced efficacy or feeling like you’re no longer good at your job.
- A sense of dread about going to work.
- Decreased compassion for others.
- Sometimes having physical symptoms including headaches, body pain, fatigue, heartburn, other gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as increased potential for alcohol, drug, or food misuse.
What Causes Burnout? Burnout isn’t necessarily caused by increased workload. It is caused when you have to work in a way that doesn't resonate with you. For this, it is important to re-evaluate why you choose your profession in the first place and figure out what you now feel is lacking or has changed. For most people, along with monetary compensation, work is also about feeling valued, supported and respected.
Burnout can occur:- When you feel like you are not in control.
- When you lack support.
- When you have long working hours and you don’t take breaks.
- When you have more responsibilities than you can effectively manage.
- When you feel helpless about a situation.
- When you feel disrespected or unvalued.
- Perfectionists
- Extremely detail-oriented.
- Find it difficult or don’t know how to ask for help.
- Take pride in leading exhaustive lifestyles.
- People who are in professions with prolonged exposure to other people's trauma, thus putting them at risk of caring or giving too much at the cost of their own mental health. This is called compassion fatigue and can also lead to a burnout.
How to Deal with Burnout
- The first step is to recognize it and talk about it.
- Having a sense of purpose and feeling like you are contributing to something beyond yourself can help counteract feelings of burnout.
- Having appropriate work life balance.
- Healthy work routine: starting and stopping at set times, taking breaks and minimizing multi-tasking can all help reduce feelings of burnout.
- Utilizing vacation time by actually taking vacation.
- Spending time with people rather than with just screens: Connecting with each other over lunch or coffee or having frequent staff check-in meetings.
- Nurturing relationships, adopting self-care habits, and focusing on hobbies outside of work can also help reduce stress.
- Having better boundaries and saying no: When you have too many conflicting responsibilities, simply saying “no” to new tasks is a simple way to reduce your workload.
What is non-work related burn out? Professional work is not the only source of prolonged and repeated stress that causes burnout. We can also experience burnout in our roles as parents, partners, and caregivers. This can happen if we experience exhaustion, feel overwhelmed by our responsibilities, or start believing that we have failed at our roles. These forms of burnout are referred to as parental burnout, relationship burnout, and caregiver burnout respectively. Non-work burnout is less well known than work related burnout. Stereotypes and stigmas can add to feelings of self-blame and guilt. As a result, people often hide their struggles from others. Burnout, in any form, can have severe consequences if not identified. Discussing it openly, with your partner, friends, family members or a therapist can be the first step to address it and get help accordingly.
Madiha Khan, MD - Psychiatrist
Dr. Madiha Khan is an American board certified psychiatrist skilled in evidence based psychiatry, psychotherapy and women’s mental health.
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