Although mostly talked about in the work context, burnout can happen when unresolved stressors from different areas of life (work, family, social life) come together, and recovery becomes difficult. It starts with exhaustion, characterized by extreme tiredness that can lead to cognitive and emotional issues. To manage your tiredness, you may mentally distance yourself from work, which could help in the short run. In the long run, when experiencing consistent stress, however, all of these issues can start feeding into each other, creating a vicious cycle that can lead to the end-state of burnout.
Next to the core symptoms of burnout, there are several additional physical and non-physical stress-related symptoms that can but do not have to be present during burnout.
Interested in your burnout symptoms? Take the test here: https://burnoutassessmenttool.be/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/BAT-English.pdf . The BAT is a questionnaire that covers all the symptoms we described above. Be sure to discuss any questions you might have with a health care professional, like a general practitioner, psychologist, or psychiatrist.
Did you know?
Both researchers and practitioners have pointed out that depression and burnout can share symptoms: Especially exhaustion, motivational issues and questions around the meaning of work and life are often present in both burnout and depression. Similarly, symptoms related to anxiety can occur, as people approach burnout (e.g., palpitations, panic attacks, tensions). Especially bodily symptoms (e.g., exhaustion, palpitations, sleeping problems) might also be explained by underlying physical health conditions (e.g., thyroid dysfunction, chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep apnea). Therefore, it is particularly important to seek professional/medical help, to rule out any alternative explanations for your symptoms.
How did I get here?
Burnout is a process that does not happen from one day to another. People may go through many different phases before they reach clinical burnout. We will go through these phases with the help of (the fictional) Ben:
Phase 1: Lack of recovery
Ben has been working as an advisor for about five years. He always liked his work, not minding its quick pace. Recently, there have been some changes in the company, one colleague left, another one went on paternal leave. There is more work than usual and no one to share it with. Ben notices that he skim-reads contracts to save time, needs longer breaks between work tasks and does not quite have enough time to finish his tasks.
Stressful events may happen with limited possibilities to recuperate (your energy).
Phase 2: Changes in stress physiology
Over the next few weeks, Ben finds it difficult to recover after work, he wanders about his apartment, not quite able to sit still. When he goes to bed, thoughts about work circle in his head, keeping him awake. During the night he wakes up multiple times and finds it hard to fall back asleep.
When stress levels continue to be high for a long time, the stress system adapts itself: Our bodily system sets a higher stress level as our baseline, and our body remains active even when we want to whine down.
Phase 3: Chronic stress
Ben is feeling exhausted. He does not recognise himself at work anymore. He forgets to send important reports to his boss and starts arguments with colleagues. Headaches have become a daily occurrence, and he had to take sick days three times last month because of them. He dreads when his friends message him to hang out. He wants to see them but simply does not have the energy to do it.
Being constantly ‘on’ and active can lead to a number of chronic stress symptoms. Everyone reacts differently to stress, so these can vary from individual to individual. People tend to still work at this stage, but as symptoms increase, it becomes progressively harder to keep up and pretend that everything is fine.
Phase 4: Pseudo psychopathology
“You don’t understand. He is a lost cause, and I can’t work with him. He cannot follow simple instructions”, Ben simply cannot stand the new intern he has been training for the last two days. He tells him to send out an email at 9:30, he sends it at 9:35.
“If he can’t follow something as easy as this, how will he ever succeed in this industry?” Ben has had enough of the laziness of the next generation.
“Don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh?” Not even his boss can be trusted anymore.
How am I being harsh when he’s the one that does not do what he is told? I bet my boss is trying to replace me anyway. People cannot be trusted.
To reduce stress, individuals simplify their experiences. This could show up as solving problems in more rigid ways. Instead of thinking about a creative/efficient solution for his new clients’ problem, Ben might spend hours trying to argue why a previous solution from a different case should be applied. When having an argument with another person or something not going someone’s way, they might blame the other person’s character, instead of the circumstances (e.g., the new intern is just not cut out for the role because he is lazy, instead of considering that it is their first week). People in this phase might be described as obsessive or compulsive or even paranoid (= pseudo-pathology because it is not actually their personality).
Phase 5: Clinical burnout
Ben rolls out of bed. Opens his laptop, enters the meeting. With his camera off, he
listens as his colleague goes over the financial reports of last year. This used to be his job, he used to speak excitedly and proudly about the progress they had made. Now he has an unsurmountable amount of work left undone that he has no will or energy to do. He does not know if he should cry, throw his laptop out of the window or simply go straight back to bed.
In phase 5, instead of the hyperactivity experienced in earlier stages, stress may change to passivity and a relatively permanent impaired motivation
This phasing model, like most, captures what happens on average. Not everyone needs to experience exactly these symptoms in exactly that order. What is often more important is understanding what is common for you. Has there been a recent change in your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours? Is this bothering you or negatively influencing your relationship with others or work? It is always a good idea to talk to a trusted person and a health care professional in case of doubt!
If you would like to dive deeper into clinical burnout, you can read the original paper here: https://www.biorics.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Van-dam-2021-A-clinical-perspective-on-burnout-d.pdf
References:
Arno van Dam (2021): A clinical perspective on burnout: diagnosis, classification, and treatment of clinical burnout, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/1359432X.2021.1948400
Schaufeli, W.B., De Witte, H. & Desart, S. (2020). Manual Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) – Version 2.0. KU Leuven, Belgium: Unpublished internal report.
