What is Job Burnout?
One definition of job burnout reads: Job burnout is a special type of work-related stress, a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity. As Therapists/NPs/Mental Health Support Staff, we need to make sure we are doing what we can to avoid burning out in our jobs - especially given the emotional strains inherent in this profession.
Let’s start with exploring for ourselves the following (taken from: https://www.betterup.com/blog/signs-of-burnout-at-work):
5 stages of burnout
In their research on workplace burnout, Winona State University further simplifies burnout into five stages:
- Honeymoon stage
You’re thrilled with the work you do and how you do it. You feel creative, energized, and enlivened. You don’t mind skipping lunch or working late because you’re so excited by your new venture. Unfortunately, the honeymoon phase at a new job rarely lasts forever. This is where we start to develop patterns that become difficult to escape in later stages. We can prolong this phase by keeping up with healthy habits before we feel like we need to do so.
- Balancing act
Things are fine, but the job has lost its luster. You have good days and bad days. You might notice that even if you can keep up your performance at work, it’s taking more out of you to do so. You might start forgetting things or find yourself unable to sleep due to the onset of stress.
- Chronic stress symptoms
You feel stressed and uneasy more days than not. When people make requests of you — whether at home or otherwise — you feel resentful. You may be exhausted, apathetic, or relying on caffeine to get you through the day. You might feel depressed, cynical, or doubt that things can change. You may start to get the Sunday scaries — and they continue to get worse over time. You spend your weekends stressed about the work week to come.
- Burnout
You start to feel the mental, emotional, and physical symptoms of burnout. You may start skipping work, procrastinating, or missing deadlines. You think about quitting, running away — anything to get out of your situation.
- Enmeshment
The term “enmeshment” means that burnout has become your new default setting. You might not be able to remember a time before you felt like this. At this point, you may be diagnosed with anxiety or depression before you recognize burnout as the underlying cause.
Where do you fall in the above 5 stages of burnout? I’d love to think we are all in the Honeymoon phase where we are thrilled with our job and love everything about it, but I realize that is unrealistic. If you happen to not fall into the Honeymoon phase stay tuned as we take a deep dive during 2024 to explore how we can combat Job Burnout!
Recommended Book to Read
Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement by: Herbert J. Freudenberger, & Geraldine Richelson