Chronic stress, a major reason for burnout, leads to physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. Burnout sufferers urgently need rest and professional help. Those recognising the early symptoms in themselves have a good chance of avoiding burnout by reducing stress and restoring the right balance of work and rest.
13.02.2017
Burnout is triggered when someone is overburdened for an extended period of time. This most often happens in the context of work. In modern working environments, where targets have replaced punching the clock as a means of control, and where it is possible to keep working even when you are at home, away from the office or on holiday, people who place particularly high demands on themselves and want to do everything perfectly can be susceptible to burnout.
But the demands of running a household and looking after a family can also lead to burnout. Factors that can contribute to burnout in housewives and mothers include a high workload, little scope to influence their situation, and a lack of appreciation and pay for the work they do.
Burnout always starts with a very high level of commitment. After a time, signs of fatigue begin to appear. Your performance tails off despite all the effort you are putting in. Professional success fails to materialise, and your career stagnates. This leads you to try even harder, and your fatigue gradually becomes a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. This is characterised by:
Burnout can have very different causes, so there is no universal panacea for combating it. But since chronic stress is a primary cause of burnout, learning to deal with stress is of central importance. There are essentially two ways to manage stress:
Psychological problems throw life out of balance. Typical symptoms include depression, anxiety, addiction or odd behaviour.
Listlessness, low mood, anxiety, chronic insomnia and suicidal thoughts are signs of depression. Psychological counselling is essential.
It all starts with performance drive and a quest for perfection, accompanied by chronic stress. It ends with total exhaustion, maybe even depression and thoughts of suicide. Burnout is a symptom of our times. But it can be prevented and treated. Dr. Edith Holsboer-Trachsler explains how.
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