What is Burnout Syndrome?

What is Burnout Syndrome?

Table of Content:

• How to Experience Burnout and How to Recognize It?
• Who is More at Risk for Burnout Syndrome?
• What are the Consequences If No Measures are Taken?
• What Precautions Can Be Taken?

How to Experience Burnout and How to Recognize It?

A person who is burned out experiences it as either emotional collapse, depersonalization or reduced motivation to achieve. Each of these severely affects the person’s routine life, functioning and reactions. It causes the person to become inadequate by gradually reducing his/her desire, strength, effort, positive emotions and behaviors related to the occupation he/she is trying to pursue at the time, such as work, family responsibilities, personal responsibilities, caring for a relative in need of help. With this loss of motivation, interest and desire, the person develops a generalized energy anxiety, negative feelings and thoughts about himself/herself, a sense of inadequacy and failure. In addition to these, loss of interest in others, negative feelings and behaviors emerge. All these force the person to withdraw from the environment, to conflict in interpersonal relationships or to withdraw into himself/herself. This general loss of energy brought about by burnout manifests itself physically in chronic fatigue and a number of physical complaints. Both emotional and physical losses cause emotional and mental exhaustion by creating helplessness, hopelessness and lack of self-confidence. Consequently, the person becomes unable to carry out the tasks for which he/she is responsible, and human relations may completely deteriorate.

Burnout is a process consisting of 4 intertwined phases: The first phase is defined as the idealistic phase. In this phase, as the person realizes that he/she is overburdened and strained, he/she tries to get out of this situation by pushing his/her own strength more and more. At this time, he/she is full of high hopes and energy, and for this reason, he/she has expectations that do not correspond to his/her reality, capacity and circumstances. In this phase, the person puts his/her profession or whatever occupation he/she is pursuing at the time above all else and endures sleep deprivation and tense working environments. He/she spends all his/her strength for this purpose by stealing time and energy that he/she should allocate for himself/herself. In doing so, he is unaware that he is making an excessive effort to adapt and that he is over-consuming his own energy. However, this process becomes increasingly exhausting.

In the second stage, the person begins to feel that his/her will and hope are diminishing over time. He/she realizes that his/her efforts are not meeting expectations, that he/she is becoming increasingly disturbed by the difficulties he/she encounters, by some points that he/she had previously ignored or disregarded, and that he/she is in an emotional collapse. These realizations create a feeling of extreme frustration. 

In this 3rd stage, which is called frustration, the person feels frustrated and helpless in the face of the difficulty of changing all the negativities they face. In this situation, even though the person activates all defense mechanisms focused on adaptation, they are insufficient. Maladaptive defenses emerge and further impair the person’s ability to cope with the problem, making burnout even more pronounced. This period gradually causes the person to develop avoidance behavior and withdrawal, and to show different behavioral reactions depending on personality traits. Sudden anger, defiance, indifference or overreaction, confidence problems such as suspiciousness, sleep and appetite disorders and other physical symptoms, especially respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms caused by anxiety and worry, may be observed. 

When all efforts are in vain, this leads to a state of unresponsiveness, which is the 4th and final stage of APATHY. In this stage, there is a decrease in emotional response to environmental events, dulling and depersonalization. There is a marked state of hopelessness and a deep disbelief in previously held values. The person’s professional and social communication performance may completely decline. In this period, requests for reports, resignations, indifference towards caregivers, and inability to fulfill one’s duties are common.

Who is More at Risk for Burnout Syndrome?

Those with chronic illnesses or physical disabilities, those who care for a chronic patient, a mentally or physically disabled person or an elderly person in need of care, those who work in professions that deal directly with people, such as the health and education sectors, those who have to live under conditions of pressure, obstruction, scarcity, exposure to violence and similar stresses for a long time, and especially women are more at risk because they are more exposed to these situations. However, anyone who has experienced similar situations can experience this syndrome.

Personality characteristics, age, gender, education, capacity and methods of coping with problems, marital status, social support, financial and moral satisfaction with the job, risks, difficulties, dangers and other threatening effects of the job, and the structure, injustice and limited opportunities offered by the employer are factors that facilitate the emergence of exhaustion. The presence of social support such as marriage, increased experience and problem-solving skills in the job, interest and love for the job, and activities for oneself other than work or obligatory activities can be listed as characteristics that can stop burnout or reduce the risk.

What are the Consequences If No Measures are Taken?

When burnout syndrome is not recognized and prevented at the appropriate time, it can result in job loss, financial losses, family problems and other relationship difficulties, and thus moral losses such as loneliness, alcohol, smoking and other substance use disorders, somatoform disorders with physiological and psychological symptoms, and various psychiatric diseases ranging from depression.

What Precautions Can Be Taken?

There are two aspects of precautions to be taken here, depending on the person and the institution they work for. As soon as the person starts to notice the burden, especially from the second stage onwards, he/she may need to take time for himself/herself, not to carry his/her work home, to get a helper if he/she is a caregiver, to give a chance to other enjoyable activities and loved ones (such as artistic activities, sportive activities, trips with loved ones), to know how to ask for help when necessary, to report directly to the relevant authorities that he/she is having difficulty, to take breaks intermittently (such as annual leave) and to receive counseling on developing coping methods.

In order to reduce the burden levels of individuals, it is necessary to increase the opportunities and resources at the workplace, to identify and implement motivating procedures, to correct existing problems, to take precautions by anticipating future problems, to investigate the problems and needs of employees at certain intervals as an employer, to find and implement solutions immediately, to give employees the right to participate in decisions related to them, and to adopt an administration that applies fair and equal conditions.

When you feel burned out, your first step should be to consult a specialist and get help. If there is a psychiatric disorder that has developed, you should consult a psychiatrist without hesitation and start the treatment of that disorder without delay.