By Darby Eakins, CBT Therapist and certified Psychological Health & Safety (PH&S) Advisor What is burnout?
While burnout is not officially recognized as a diagnosable mental illness, recent research (Koutsimani, 2019) suggests that even though it’s often associated with anxiety and depression, it appears to be a robust and stand-alone construct. The World Health Organization defines burnout as “a feeling of intense fatigue, loss of control, and an inability to produce concrete results at work.” Another definition indicates burnout is “a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.” It’s always associated with work, and while it was initially reserved for those in caring roles (nurses, doctors, social workers and teachers), we now know that all workers can be exposed to burnout. Folks with burnout will often meet the criteria for depression and/or anxiety, and some will even meet the criteria for PTSD. In my case, I met the criteria for all three. But with the context of work removed or the organizational issues remedied, most folks will recover. Burnout Risk Factors & Facts
Burnout and the National Psychological Safety Standard The National Psychological Safety Standard (The Standard) defines a psychologically healthy and safe workplace as “a workplace that promotes workers’ psychological well-being and actively works to prevent harm to worker psychological health, including in negligent, reckless or intentional ways.” (National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (CAN/CSA-Z1003-13/BNQ9700- 803/2013) The Standard outlines 13 risk factors for psychological safety at work:
Preventing and Recovering from Burnout Burnout does not happen overnight. It is insidious and creeps in over time. Symptoms that may arise include: fatigue, pain, digestive problems, stomach ulcers, skin problems, disrupted sleep, weight loss or gain, frequent illnesses, constant loss of motivation with regard to work, detachment from work, pronounced irritability, spontaneous anger, feelings of incompetence, inefficiency and exhaustion, a desire to isolate oneself, a feeling of failure, a drop in self-confidence, anxiety, worry, insecurity, difficulty concentrating, loss of memory, difficulty in using good judgement, indecision, confusion, and in the most serious cases, suicidal thoughts. Preventing Burnout From a prevention perspective, it’s important to notice the flags and risks of burnout to mitigate them in yourself:
Recovering from Burnout From a recovery perspective, it’s important to navigate to resources for support:
Comments are closed.
|
PH&S ClinicEnhancing psychological health, wellness and resilience Archives
January 2025
Mental Health
All
|