What is burnout and how to deal with it
Fatigue, irritability, insomnia, the impossibility of concentrating on one task for a long time - almost every one of us came across something from this list. But if you realize that several of these symptoms manifest themselves for a long time and, no matter how hard you try, you do not feel rested, it is possible that these are signs of a more serious problem - burnout.
At first glance it seems that the term "burnout" explains itself - but not everything is so simple. Despite the popularity of advice on how not to “burn out at work”, this phenomenon is still not considered as an independent diagnosis, and many doctors consider it simply a form of depression. Burnout is easiest to describe as a state of intense emotional fatigue, which may be accompanied by depersonalization; most often it occurs due to excessive fatigue and stress at work. For the first time this word was used in the seventies of the last century to describe the complete powerlessness that nurses and doctors complained about. Now they talk about burnout more often, and not only those who work a lot with people - like doctors or social workers - but, for example, representatives of creative professions. We talked to a girl who faced burnout and the psychotherapist Polina Soldatova, who told us how to cope with it.
“People who are prone to empathy, those who are responsible, and those who are harassed by obsessive ideas are at risk of burnout,” says Polina Soldatova. “Emotional burnout happens from intense, stressful and unstructured work, and this is absolutely normal. than the satisfaction of the activity, the balance of performance is violated. "
Anna, an employee of one of the universities of St. Petersburg, says that the stories of burnout can be divided into two groups: those where the person was engaged in unloved and uninteresting work, and those where the work was loved - but took too much effort. The case of Anna herself is just the second. For many years she had existed in such a mode, when she could constantly invent something new, going beyond her direct responsibilities. But after a while, ingenuity disappeared, along with the ability to think calmly in critical situations and the desire to engage in creative work.
Anna says that at that time her strength was only enough to delegate responsibilities: "It looked like this: during the week I was working exclusively on a small working routine, which in itself is an excellent excuse not to take anything new. When Saturday came, I I sat at the computer and spent hours playing solitaire, reading fan fiction or just sitting on social networks instead of working. I got into a vicious circle: at first I didn’t rest at all over the weekend and went to work tired, then I had less and less forces to work for a week, I again left everything for the weekend, and this was repeated ad infinitum. "
According to Polina Soldatova, emotional burnout can occur when a person's ideas about his activities do not coincide with the conditions in which he is located. Monotonous, tedious work, work with a heightened emotional load, and finally, work with a difficult team or clients - all this can lead to a sad result.
At that time, Anna did not understand why she wakes up in the morning. It was difficult for her to force herself to gather and walk to work, despite the fact that she was near the house. During the day, she constantly experienced irritation, which became a familiar background for her life - so much so that sometimes she could even forget about it. But at the same time, she did not even think about quitting work or running away from the office. “I couldn’t allow myself to relax because I have an attitude that I want to be a good worker. But I didn’t succeed, and in the end I reproached myself for not working,” she says.
In the case of Anna, education played a significant role: from childhood she was taught that she should not just work hard, but also constantly achieve significant success - and if she does not, then you can not try. “It’s like climbing an endless staircase. Everything that I managed to achieve seemed to disappear into the emptiness under the staircase, because I myself devalued my achievements: when I finished the project, I stopped seeing value in it,” Anna recalls. I noticed a positive reaction from my colleagues, and in the end it seemed to me that they did not appreciate my work. " To achieve the approval of others, she began to take on more tasks and come up with new projects - however, they remained unfulfilled, because she did not have enough time and skills to put them into practice. Anna's discontent with herself only grew, and with it the confidence that her creative potential was needed by few was growing stronger.
Because of the constant feeling of shame that Anna felt, not coping with work, she began to communicate less with relatives and friends: "I was embarrassed to talk to them because I stopped seeming myself to be the successful person I was before. I began to refuse to meet , because I had to work - but then I was ashamed of having again wasted my time and did nothing.At some point, all my conversations with friends began to boil down to the fact that everything was very bad and I didn’t know that I now do. However, in some m I came to those who had therapy experience with my complaints. It was then that I had the idea to seek help from a psychologist. By that time I had already lived a year, assuring myself that I lacked willpower and I just needed get together and force yourself to work as before. "
The psychotherapist Polina Soldatova advises first of all to recognize that you are really tired, that this is really happening to you right now and, therefore, stress, fatigue and powerlessness affect your thoughts and actions. In the early stages, you can try to help yourself: share your responsibilities with colleagues or subordinates, say “no” more often and think about how you take care of yourself. “Stop and decide what you could do today only for your own sake,” notes the psychotherapist. “Take your time and follow your desires: do other things, meet friends. Do it until you feel you are relaxing. Now you can again look at your situation and, perhaps, make more sensible conclusions about it. If you don’t manage it yourself, psychotherapy comes to the rescue. A specialist can help you figure out how to optimize your life so that stress is less, and there is more satisfaction and pleasure. "
In the case of Anna, conversations with friends were helpful. At the first reception at the psychotherapist, she told how ashamed she was that she was just sitting in front of the computer on Saturday without doing anything. Then the therapist asked her a question that she never asked herself: why does she feel guilty when she doesn't work at all? The therapy helped Anna to realize that the feeling of guilt in this situation is completely inappropriate - she learned to reflex and more consciously relate to her feelings. Over time, the woman's condition improved: she felt stronger, she had increased energy - she says that she finally stopped calling a taxi to drive it fifteen minutes before work. The girl finally had the opportunity to do something for herself and for her own pleasure, while she didn’t even need to change jobs: she remained in the same place, but changed her remit.
"With my therapist, we talked a lot about what is rest, what exactly helps me to relax. For me, a very important discovery was the fact that I relax from communication and not get tired. Now I actively use it - and, for example, on I take breaks when I talk with my colleagues, but not about work - this is important. At the same time, I realized that it’s in the “conversations about nothing” that emotional bond that feeds the person is built, ”she says.“ Besides, strong impressions are important - they help me to switch from work to rest. And if I I want to relax on the weekends, then I have to do something that I rarely do: for example, go to an exhibition, or go out of town. Only this way I manage to get distracted and stop thinking about work. For me, rest is first of all new impressions , changing activities. I have to invent something new every time. "
