Burnout, what is it and how to deal with it? How to Deal with Emotional Burnout Methods for Dealing with Emotional Burnout

Burnout syndrome at work, the main causes of its occurrence and the clinical picture. Ways to eliminate symptoms and prevention.

The mechanism of development of emotional burnout in humans

Work that is connected with other people, communicating with them, after several years can cause burnout syndrome. This phenomenon was noticed back in the last century, when many able-bodied people sought psychological help after a solid experience. They argued that sometime a favorite business no longer brings that pleasure, causes unpleasant associations, irritability, a feeling of inability to perform their duties.

Most often, people with professions that involve helping or serving others are prone to these symptoms. These are doctors, teachers, personnel managers and even students. It is known that during the years of study at school and university, this syndrome can also form.

This pathological process is presented as fatigue stretched over time. Working with people on a daily basis requires proper behavior, emotional restraint, and empathy. It is with this set of characteristics that you can interact with clients, students, staff, students, visitors, patients every day.

After many years of work, the inner resource of personal qualities and tolerance often dries up. For people of some professions this happens faster, for others - later. However, there comes a point when empathy becomes insufficient, and the person, despite his professional qualifications, cannot fulfill the duties.

In work, the opposite qualities begin to appear - intolerance, irritability, intemperance. First, the relationship with the people with whom the person works is changed. For example, a doctor will be much more cynical about his patients, behave pragmatically, and not show empathy. The emotional component of the profession will be absent, and sometimes it will manifest itself as anger, hostility.

Prolonged attempts to work in this mode can negatively affect both human health and his work. That is why timely diagnosis is so crucial.

Causes of burnout

Emotional burnout is a defensive reaction of the body to the excessive expenditure of its energy reserves and capabilities. The human psyche turns off the emotional response when it can harm. You can get tired at work not only physically, but also mentally. Burnout is a sign of overwork of the emotional component.

The reason for emotional burnout is considered to be a limit that limits an individual's ability to empathy, sympathy, and emotional interaction. This line makes it possible to separate that part of actions and manifestations that excessively consumes energy resources from the norm.

Simply put, an individual cannot listen to a hundred people during one day, sincerely feel and help, even if it is physically possible. That is why a protective stereotypical reaction turns on - blocking of emotional response, and the person feels exhaustion, moral fatigue.

If such a reaction is repeated very often over many years, there is a possibility of the formation of a burnout syndrome, when attempts to evoke an emotional response in a person worsen the symptoms and may even manifest somatic signs.

If every day to face someone else's mood, character, temperament, the individual begins to experience a chronic stressful situation. It has an extremely negative effect on his well-being, mental state and health.

One of the reasons for emotional burnout can be considered the lack of a result or response to one's own empathy and benevolence. Giving is essential in any job, but the human factor reinforces this need. In most cases, in response, an individual with such a job receives either cold indifference, or a negative response, resentment, and arguments.

Another reason for professional burnout should be considered the discrepancy between the personal parameters of the profession. Sometimes a person gets to work that does not suit him at all in temperament.

For example, there are performers - workers who solve the tasks set in advance well and on time. They shouldn't be expected to be creative or too fast in the deadline, but you can rely on delivering stable work assignments. There is also another type of people who are able to actively generate new creative ideas, quickly mobilize their strength, but they too often get tired and cannot perform this type of activity for a long time.

The same can be said for those who consider themselves creative. For them, any obstacles and restrictions impair professional abilities, therefore, burnout syndrome occurs in such people much more often than in analysts in terms of the composition of the mind.

The main signs of burnout in humans

Burnout symptoms develop gradually. Fatigue and irritability are perceived as side effects of hard work. Over time, enthusiasm decreases, the desire to do something disappears.

The manifestations of this syndrome can affect the somatic sphere of the human body, its behavior, as well as the psyche and emotions. Thus, the abundance of symptoms obscures the true cause of the disease.

Somatic manifestations:

• Fatigue... A person constantly complains of feeling tired, even if the duration of the work was not long.
• General weakness... The feeling that there is not enough strength, the feeling of "cotton feet".
• Headaches and dizziness... Frequent complaints of migraines, meteosensitivity, dark circles before the eyes, flies.
• Frequent colds... There is a decrease in the activity of the body's defenses - immunity.
• Sweating... Increased sweating is common, even at normal ambient temperatures.
• Change in diet and regimen... Some people experience insomnia, while others, on the contrary, have drowsiness. It's the same with food intake. Some have an increased appetite, they gain weight, others lose weight.

The behavior of a person with burnout syndrome also changes. This manifests itself not only at work, but also in communication with friends. Most often, the symptoms are still exacerbated when performing official duties. Let's list them:

1. Insulation... A person tries to retire, avoids unnecessary contacts with other people.
2. Failure to fulfill obligations... Work no longer brings satisfaction, moreover, it causes unpleasant sensations, so the individual shies away from the responsibility that is laid on him.
3. Irritability... In this state, he can easily break down on someone from the environment, accuse everyone in a row.
4. Envy... Finding deceptive ways to get what you want, feeling uncomfortable that someone is doing well.
5. General pessimistic attitude... A person sees only negative traits in everything, constantly complains about poor working conditions.

The psycho-emotional signs of burnout are often the first to appear. The feeling of loneliness and own helplessness aggravates the clinical picture. The main symptoms are:

• Indifference... There is very little interest in what is happening around, work becomes something distant and completely unimportant.
• Loss of your own ideals... A person is disappointed in what he has always believed in. The sanctity of the profession, its exclusiveness is understated.
• Loss of professional interest... There is no point in doing any more work that no one needs. The motivational factors that should be triggered do not return the desire to return to professional activity.
• General discontent... A person constantly expresses complaints about his own life, its insignificance and insignificance.

Important! In such a state, people can often get involved in drinking, smoking, drugs in order to muffle their inner emptiness.

Ways to deal with burnout

There are many tests that offer to determine the presence of symptoms of burnout, so if signs or suspicions of this disorder arise, you should be tested. Only then can you take any action in relation to yourself. A variety of psychotherapeutic techniques are most often used to treat burnout. The effect is also given by group therapy in the form of trainings, where people learn to properly interact with each other.

Education

In many professions, advanced training courses are planned, the role of which is not only to familiarize with new knowledge and skills, but also to increase the motivational level. When retraining, there is a reminder of the importance and relevance of the chosen profession, a person again finds why he chose this path in choosing a career.

For these purposes, seminars, trainings are often organized, and upon completion they are usually handed out certificates, diplomas, and certificates. This is a kind of proof of the importance of the whole process and the role of one person in the overall system. It should be understood that a well-coordinated mechanism is the work of every detail. Communication with other people from the same profession who are not part of the usual team can show a different point of view.

This is how you can realize the most important principles of your qualifications, understand how much is being done so that everyone's work is not a waste of time. There are even special trainings that teach how to deal with emotional burnout.

Grade

In educational institutions, knowledge assessment has been introduced as an additional incentive to achieve the final result - obtaining a diploma, certificate, or certificate. It is very difficult for adolescents and young people to find those motivational reasons to continue their studies, so a point system was introduced. In this way, you will be able to improve your professional qualities.

If work is directly judged fairly, each small victory will be rewarded, a person will acquire new goals and meaning for his activities. Today, this incentive is salary. If the amount directly depends on the quality of the work, the pace of its completion, as well as reputation, the person will try to maintain them in the norm.

In addition, in such situations, healthy competition arises - a method of screening that will determine those who are worthy of the profession. Thus, everyone will try to achieve better results and take their responsibilities much more responsibly.

Novelty

If a person constantly feels discomfort from the conditions of his professional activity, it is best to change them. This does not mean that you need to change your job or specialization. Sometimes companies practice the rotation method, when employees change positions or places.

Acquisition of knowledge, new technology, method of carrying out one's activities will be of great importance. If a person learns something new, he quickly reaches his competence, and the freshness of the methods gives professional strength.

If you can't change your place of work, you should go to a conference or presentation, which is, in fact, related to work. A few days in the company of the luminaries of their profession contribute to the restoration of vitality.

Features of prevention of emotional burnout

If the profession is associated with an increased risk of emotional burnout, you should take care of preventive actions in relation to it. Since this syndrome causes both physical and psychological manifestations, therefore, all the measures taken can also be divided into two parts.

Physical methods for preventing burnout:

1. Diet. The food should contain all the necessary vitamins, organic matter and energy material.
2. Exercises. Sports activities help to strengthen the immune system, mobilize the body's defenses.
3. Mode. It is important to observe the correct scheme of work and rest, proper sleep restores the functions of the nervous system.

Psychological methods of prevention of emotional burnout:

• Recreation. Occupational hygiene should be adhered to, which ensures the right to a day off. On this day, you should not engage in professional activities.
• Introspection. A psychologist will help you figure out your own disturbing thoughts, or you can do it yourself with a sheet of paper and a pen.
• A priority. So that personal relationships do not suffer because of professional problems, it is necessary to set clear boundaries between these areas of activity.
• Meditation. Any practice that involves deepening self-awareness will help determine important professional levers of influence on your own feelings.

How to deal with emotional burnout - watch the video:

Emotional burnout is already called the epidemic of the 21st century, as its prevalence is actively increasing. To prevent a decline in the quality of work, managers should engage in prevention of this syndrome, rotate employees on time, ensure timely professional development and travel to conferences.

Stress and high pace of life accompany most of us throughout the year. In the spring, chronic fatigue caused by a lack of sunlight and vitamins is often added to this. All this can lead to the so-called professional burnout syndrome. Even the most successful specialists are not insured against loss of interest in the profession.

Groundhog Day
Barely lifting your head from the pillow, you wandered languidly into the bathroom, remembering with horror that today is only Tuesday, which means that the weekend is still far away. Standing in a traffic jam on the way to the office, mentally scold narrow roads, broken traffic lights and inattentive pedestrians. Within an hour after starting work, you feel tired, any business requires serious stress from you. Everything annoys you - colleagues, your boss, reports, emails, and even a pen with a company logo. You are more and more often looking at your watch in anticipation of the evening ...

Finally, the working day is over. After spending another couple of hours in a traffic jam or subway, you return home, but you cannot cope with a bad mood even with your family. You go to bed with the sad knowledge that tomorrow everything will be repeated from the beginning.

Did you recognize yourself? Is your work not fun anymore, and communication with prospective clients is not inspiring? If you feel that life has turned into a solid groundhog day, then, most likely, there is a so-called professional burnout syndrome - the depletion of the emotional resources of a working person against the background of chronic fatigue and stress. HR managers call this phenomenon demotivation.

At-risk groups
Who is most at risk of being burned out at work? There are several risk groups. Firstly, these are specialists who work with people on a daily basis - teachers, doctors, journalists, PR specialists, client managers, recruiters, salespeople, etc. Agree, it is not easy to meet every day from year to year with the most diverse representatives of humanity , listen carefully to them and try to help them, not always receiving gratitude in return.

Secondly, introverts can “burn out” at work, that is, those who keep all their experiences in themselves, without splashing out their emotions on others. Finding himself in a stressful or uncomfortable situation for himself, such a person will not express dissatisfaction for a long time, accumulating negative. Chronic fatigue and burnout are often a natural consequence of this.

Finally, another category of workers who are at risk of burnout are perfectionists, that is, those who always strive to do their job best. "Red" university diplomas, successful independent projects, victories in professional competitions - all this is given to perfectionists not for their beautiful eyes, but is the result of daily hard work. Several years of work practically without days off often turn into a syndrome of professional burnout.

Who rests well, works well
So, if you notice in yourself such signs as irritation towards your once favorite work, dislike of colleagues, a feeling of routine, chronic fatigue, insomnia, or, conversely, drowsiness, lethargy, then it's time to take care of your condition. Otherwise (sadly, but this is a scientific fact) daily stress can lead to a serious deterioration in health - systematic headaches, gastritis, hypertension, heart problems, etc.

How to prevent this and regain simple joys - inspiration before starting a new business, satisfaction from what has been done, real drive from work? It is best to start your own rehabilitation program with rest. How long have you been on vacation - with travel, sea, delicious food and sunshine? By the way, it has been proven that prolonged absence of the sun in itself provokes depression in people. What can we say about the mental state of office inhabitants, sometimes for months "sunbathing" under the light of a computer monitor!

So go on vacation whenever possible. Beach or skiing with kids, lonely fishing or spa with a friend, conquering mountain rivers or excursions to cities and countries - there are many ways to get new experiences and rejuvenate. Choose the one you like best.

Learn, learn and learn
A good remedy for professional burnout is to improve your educational level. Think about what knowledge you lack in your work. In what direction would you like to develop? For example, if your major is PR and you are in charge of public relations in an investment company, why not move up a notch with an economics degree? Studying will not only drive away the blues, but also open up new horizons in your activity, give you the opportunity for career growth.

If you don't need a second higher education, think about trainings, refresher courses, seminars, speaking language clubs, etc. Sometimes even banal English courses give a tremendous boost of energy: you meet new people, raise your language level, and at the same time take a break from work, because a change of activity is the best rest. Moreover, investments in education are the safest.

Refresh workplace
A much simpler but surprisingly effective way to combat burnout is to change your workplace. You can offer to swap places with a colleague, you can just move your table and chair a little. Throw away unwanted papers, clean up your computer folders, dust off where a cleaning lady doesn't, and you'll be surprised how much easier your breathing becomes.

If possible, if it is not prohibited by company rules, add some nice little things to this - for example, a houseplant in a pot, a photo of loved ones, etc. It will be much more pleasant to be at work. Of course, the fight against professional burnout is not limited to cleaning at the workplace - this method is good in combination with others.

Workout
Scientists have proven that regular fitness exercises contribute to the production of joy hormones. Find time for sports in your busy schedule. Let it be what you love - oriental dancing or yoga, swimming or volleyball. The joy of movement will transform your life - you will have more strength, including for work. Even if you do not have the opportunity to regularly visit a sports club, do not deny yourself at least walking, cycling or rollerblading. Relax, recharge your batteries, and then a working attitude will appear.

Talk to your boss
If you feel that, despite all the measures taken, you still do not want to go to work, that the past labor exploits are beyond your strength, it may be time for a frank conversation with the manager. Surely he has already noticed your mood and the decrease in the efficiency of your work. Explain that you are tired of monotony (or, on the contrary, of excessive variety) in your work, you want to change something in your life, you sit in one place ...

An adequate boss will appreciate your frankness, especially since staff motivation is most likely part of their responsibilities. The chef may well help you: for example, provide more opportunities for creativity, send on an interesting business trip, entrust a new project - in a word, make it so that you can show your talents to the maximum and feel involved in the company's success.

Change job
Finally, the last and most radical remedy for professional burnout is a job change. Sometimes it is better to sacrifice a place in the company than to bring yourself to a state of absolute rejection of the profession. So if, despite the efforts made, you do not see prospects for yourself, are tired of the routine, do not feel the opportunities for self-realization, perhaps it is time to post your resume on job sites. And find a job that you enjoy.

Scientists believe that burnout is not just a mental condition, but a disease that affects the entire body.

The term "burnout" was coined in 1974 by the American psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberger. At the same time, he compared the state of a "burnt out" person with a burned down house. From the outside, the building may look safe and sound, and only if you go inside does the degree of devastation become apparent.

Psychologists now identify three elements of burnout:

• exhaustion;
• cynical attitude to work;
• feeling of own failure.

Exhaustion leads to the fact that we get upset easily, sleep poorly, get sick more often and have difficulty concentrating.

A cynical attitude towards our activities makes us feel disconnected from colleagues and lack of motivation.

And the feeling of inadequacy makes us doubt our own abilities and perform worse in our duties.

Why does burnout occur?

We are used to thinking that burnout occurs simply because we work too hard. It's actually because our work schedule, responsibilities, deadlines, and other stressors outweigh our job satisfaction.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley identify six factors associated with employee burnout:

• workload;
• control;
• rewards;
• team relationships;
• Justice;
• values.

We experience burnout when one of these aspects of work (or more) does not meet our needs.

What is the risk of burnout?

Fatigue and lack of motivation are not the worst consequences of burnout.

• According to researchers, chronic stress that occurs in people with burnout syndrome negatively affects thinking and communication skills, and also overloads our neuroendocrine system. And over time, the effects of burnout can lead to problems with memory, attention, and emotions.
• One study found that those who experienced burnout accelerated the thinning of the prefrontal cortex, the region responsible for cognitive performance. Although the bark naturally thinns as we age, those who have experienced burnout have more pronounced effects.
• It's not just the brain that is at risk. Another study found that burnout significantly increases the likelihood of developing coronary heart disease.

How to deal with burnout?

Psychologists advise looking for ways to reduce the workload at work: delegate some of the responsibilities, say "no" more often and write down what causes you stress. In addition, you need to learn to rest and enjoy life again.

Remember to take care of yourself

It is easy to forget about yourself when there is no strength for anything. In a state, it seems to us that taking care of ourselves is the last thing to spend time on. However, according to psychologists, it is precisely her that should not be neglected.

When you feel close to burnout, it's especially important to eat well, drink plenty of water, exercise, and get enough sleep.

Also, remember what helps you to relax, and take more time for it.

Do what you love

Burnout can happen if you don't have the opportunity to regularly devote time to what you love.

To prevent job dissatisfaction from turning into burnout, think about what is most important to you and include it in your schedule.

At least a little every day, do what you love, and once a week devote more time to it. Then you will never have the feeling that you do not have time to do the most important things.

Try something new

Do something new, for example, which you have long dreamed of. It might seem counterintuitive because you're already busy all the time, but in reality, doing something new will help you avoid burnout.

The main thing is to choose what will restore strength and energize.

If adding something new to your schedule is completely impossible, start by taking care of yourself. Focus on sleep and nutrition, and try to exercise at least a little every day. This will help avoid the consequences of burnout and return to duty.

If you are suddenly tired, feeling helpless and frustrated, and it seems that you are completely out of order, it is quite possible that this is emotional burnout. This condition leads to a feeling of powerlessness, so it is very difficult to solve the problem. The detachment and indifference that comes with burnout can become a source of work problems, compromise normal communication and even physical health. Therefore, you should never let the situation take its course, you need to fight and look for ways out.

What is burnout syndrome?

CMEA or burnout syndrome is a condition characterized by mental, emotional and physical exhaustion against a background of chronic stress, which in most cases is caused by work. Most often, representatives of professions associated with constant communication are affected: for example, teachers, doctors, social workers and employees of large companies with a wide staff and high requirements for personnel.

Doctors very often suffer from CMEA

Due to strong overvoltage, a person gradually simply loses interest in everything. CMEA leads to a decrease in productivity and energy, because of this, there is a feeling of helplessness, resentment and hopelessness. It seems to the victim that he lacks strength for anything, and he is doomed to pointless and boring work.

One of the most effective ways to prevent CMEA is to set aside work problems at work. Going out the door, you can even symbolically wipe your feet so as not to drag the burden of problems home with you.

Of course, such symptoms are not uncommon in case of banal fatigue or bad mood. If our work is not appreciated or we have to be overwhelmed, we can feel the same way too. Therefore, CMEA should not be confused with depression or fatigue.

How do you recognize the CMEA?

In order not to confuse burnout syndrome with other similar conditions, you need to know three main differences:

• A person feels emotional exhaustion and devastation, he is not pleased with the work that he previously liked, nothing brings pleasure, colleagues and all the people around him annoy. This translates into poorly performed tasks, constant quarrels, unwillingness to go out somewhere and communicate with someone.
• There is a feeling of the meaninglessness of work, the desire to work well disappears, since “no one appreciates this anyway”. Gradually, this feeling can spread to other areas - for example, a person will stop taking care of himself, since it will not get better anyway.
• Unlike fatigue, CMEA does not disappear after rest. After the weekend, the "burnt out" person will remain the same unhappy and lethargic, while the tired one returns full of energy.
• Unlike depression, which is always based on fear and guilt, burnout is based on anger and irritability. A person does not think that he works badly or is rude to others, it seems to him that the whole world is against him.

Teachers often burn out emotionally

Although initially burnout may seem harmless, over time it often leads to psychosomatic illness, memory loss and poor concentration. A “burnt out” person can not only lose his job, as his value as an employee will plummet, but also his family, which will have to live under the yoke of his negativity.

Burnout development

To make it easier to diagnose burnout, New York psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberger created a special scale. The first steps look quite harmless, but it is better to start treatment already at this stage - the further, the more difficult it will be to return to the normal emotional background.

First, there is an obsessive desire for self-affirmation, perhaps an effort to prove something to others, rivalry. Then comes a careless attitude to their own needs, refusal to communicate, sports, entertainment. Then - the refusal to resolve conflicts, which leads to their protraction. Over time, a person simply stops responding to problems in communicating with family and / or friends. And then comes the loss of the feeling of oneself as a person and personality, the person continues to act mechanically, without making any efforts and without thinking about the future.

Constant fatigue is one of the main signs of burnout.

After a while, a person notices that he has lost himself, feels an inner emptiness and most often after that, depression sets in. Gradually developing, emotional burnout leads to the fact that he breaks down, gets sick physically and mentally, and often tends to suicidal thoughts.

Don't be afraid to change jobs. Some psychologists believe that this should be done every 4-5 years. This brings freshness and novelty to life and does not "burn out".

The peculiarity of the CMEA is such that it is easy to hide it.... A person can go to work, look the same as always, and even communicate more or less normally, attributing failures to fatigue or illness. Often, relatives find out about the problem already at the last stages, when a person is almost ready to say goodbye to life.

Reasons for the development of CMEA (Video)

Many modern psychologists believe that burnout is a defense mechanism in the face of strong traumatic influences. In such a situation, the body simply "turns off", preserving itself. CMEA allows you to minimize energy consumption and save some body systems from excessive work: for example, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular. But over time, such a “preserving regime” becomes too economical and does not allow a person to work normally and communicate with others.

To understand the reasons for the development of burnout, one must remember that our nervous system has a limit on the performance of certain processes: for example, communication, problem solving, etc. Determining this limit is not easy, since it is not only individual for each person, but also depends on many indicators, for example, on the quality of nutrition and sleep, health status and time of year, and the situation in the patient's family. But if a person exceeds it, exhaustion sets in, which eventually leads to burnout.

Often the symptoms of CMEA are complicated by pessimistic people and lazy people around. You need to make them understand that you should not listen to them and help them.

The second reason is the lack of tangible results... This happens most often with teachers. They can do their best, but they will not change anything, children will also come or not come to school, get bad or good grades, skip lessons and skip. A similar situation can occur with people of other professions if their success is not appreciated and not encouraged. This leads to the devaluation of labor, and later to the loss of interest in it.

CMEA greatly reduces the quality of work

Separately, it should be remembered that a person's personal qualities play an important role in the development of burnout syndrome. There are people who do not get tired when they have to carry out monotonous routine work for a long time, but cannot activate themselves to complete an urgent project. But it happens the other way around - a person can work successfully and fruitfully only for a short period of time, but at the same time he gives all the best, and later simply “fizzles out”. There are workers who are not capable of creative tasks, but they are executive. And there are creators who need a sense of freedom. If the job does not fit the personality of the person, very soon it will lead to emotional burnout.

In most cases, CMEA is the result of improper work organization, managerial mistakes and unpreparedness of personnel for their duties.

How to prevent burnout?

CMEA is a problem that is easier to prevent than to solve. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor your condition and take measures to prevent it at the first signs of burnout.

What to do?

• Try to start the day with relaxing rituals, such as meditation or exercise.
• Go for proper nutrition, exercise. This will give strength and energy to solve problems.
• Set boundaries. If something is annoying or annoying, you need to try not to do it, refuse unwanted requests and do what is really important.
• Take a break from modern technology every day. For a while, you need to turn off your phone and computer and just sit in silence.
• Get creative, find a hobby, or attend events more often that have nothing to do with work.
• Learning to manage stress can help fight burnout.

If the situation has not yet been launched, then it is quite possible to cope without the help of specialists, but you need to realize that there is a problem and you will have to work on its solution seriously.

How to recover on your own

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to prevent burnout. Most often, a person understands what happened when the CMEA is already destroying his life. If this has already happened, then you need to concentrate on returning to a normal emotional background.

Sometimes you have to step out of the race to recover

There are three steps to treating the effects of burnout:

• Step one: slow down. It is necessary to reduce to a minimum professional activities - for example, take a vacation. In your free time you need to rest, relax, forget about work and problems.
• Step two: get support. Burning out, a person usually withdraws into himself and reduces communication to a minimum. This is a normal reaction - he tries to conserve the remaining energy. But you need to overpower yourself and tell your loved ones what is happening. Even the very fact of a conversation can bring relief, and the support of dear people will definitely help to cope with stress.
• Step three: revise goals and priorities. If emotional burnout has occurred, this is a serious sign that something is wrong in life. You need to analyze everything and understand why this happened. Perhaps you should change your job or your attitude towards it, or even completely redraw everything.

But one should not expect that immediately after realizing the problem, its solution will come. This may take time, as the burnout did not happen in a day. But if you try to follow these simple tips, sooner or later your health will return.

In the early seventies of the twentieth century, scientists drew attention to the fact that many people after several years of work experience a state close to stress and seek psychological help. They feel constant fatigue, sometimes headaches, insomnia, and a general deterioration in health. Work ceases to bring them satisfaction, but on the contrary, it irritates, arouses hostility. A person has a feeling of his own incompetence, helplessness, and indeed - specific professional achievements, as well as endurance and attention in general, decrease. However, the methods of psychotherapy are ineffective here.

This phenomenon is aptly called "burnout". Unlike depression, burnout is not accompanied by feelings of guilt and depression, but, on the contrary, can be accompanied by excitement, aggression, irritability. It turned out that professional burnout brings serious losses to society - both economic and psycho-emotional. In particular, very experienced pilots suddenly begin to feel fear of flying, uncertainty about the correctness of their actions (they say they were "flying out"), which can lead to both personal drama and disaster. But those people who, according to their duty, must "give" people the energy and warmth of their souls, are especially susceptible to burnout: teachers, managers, doctors, artists.

With prolonged exposure to burnout, real stress develops, with its characteristic symptoms (among them cardiovascular disorders, neuroses, ulcers of the digestive tract, weakening of the immune system). Indifference, "professional cynicism", negativism towards clients and their work is growing. Sometimes there is aversion to everything in the world, unmotivated resentment against others, fate, the government. Life seems empty and meaningless, and work seems like a boring and hated routine. People with whom you have to work - clients, students, visitors, colleagues - are especially disliked. This type of burnout is even called "human poisoning." By the way, pupils, schoolchildren, students, are no less susceptible to "burnout".

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF BURN OUT?

According to the psychologist V.V. Boyko, emotional burnout is a personality-developed mechanism of psychological defense in the form of complete or partial exclusion of emotions in response to traumatic influences. Emotional burnout is a stereotype of emotional, most often professional, conduct. Burnout is partly a functional stereotype, since it allows a person to dose and economically use energy resources. At the same time, dysfunctional consequences can also arise, when “burnout” negatively affects the performance of professional activities and relationships with partners (the term “partner” is understood as a subject of professional activity, in pedagogical activity these are students).

Let's start with the fact that our nervous system has a certain "communication limit", that is, a person can pay full attention only to a limited number of people per day. If their number is greater, exhaustion inevitably sets in, and eventually burnout. The same limit exists for other mental processes (perception, problem solving, attention). This limit is very flexible and depends on the tone of the nervous system, which reduces bad mood when the colors of the day fade, as well as unresolved problems, lack of sleep and many other reasons.

In addition, we are accustomed to the fact that the process of communication with people is reciprocal, and every positive message is followed by a response: gratitude, increased attention, respect. However, clients and students are not always capable of such a return. It happens that efforts are "rewarded" only by indifferent silence, inattention, hostility, ingratitude, or even the desire to benefit at the expense of the one who "gives himself up." And when the sum of such failures accumulates, a crisis of self-esteem and professional motivation develops.

Another reason is the lack of a full-fledged result. Working with people often means that it is impossible to "touch", to evaluate correctly. You can cheat or try, but the result is the same: children still come to school, get grades, return home. And it is difficult to prove that these concrete efforts lead to higher results, and indifference leads to a decrease. After all, the indicators of success in school life are usually temporary, transient, they change from a quarter to a quarter, and after graduation they completely lose their intrinsic value.

You can find many more reasons for the development of burnout. But even without them, it is clear that boring, albeit habitual work can exhaust you more than an emergency solution to a difficult and interesting problem.

Individual characteristics play an important role in the development of burnout. There are people who find it easier to perform routine work for a long time (stayers). However, you cannot count on them if you need to mobilize forces and urgently make a large project. The other type (sprinters) at first act actively and enthusiastically, amaze with their efficiency, but quickly "fizzle out". They are usually very sensitive to the judgments of their actions. There are workers with low creativity, but good performance, who need direct instructions and guidance. Their opposite is creative workers who prefer freedom of choice to be successful. It is obvious that if the tasks assigned to a person do not correspond to his personality makeup, burnout develops faster and deeper.

Now more and more people are involved in the sphere of social and semantic labor, they have to work not with mechanisms and physical phenomena, but with people and information about them. Therefore, there is a whole "epidemic" of burnout in society. Who of us has never encountered "evil", "callous" leaders, officials, teachers, medical workers? Usually this "callousness" is not fully realized and does not bring pleasure and satisfaction. This is essentially an automatic defense reaction of the psyche.

Burnout can also be viewed as a consequence of improperly organized work, irrational management, and staff unpreparedness.

NEGATIVISM AS PROTECTION

Is there a way out? There are many ways to reduce the burnout effect. There are whole technologies that are developed on the basis of industrial organizational psychology. They allow you to increase labor productivity, increase income, improve the psychological climate and social indicators in the organization.

I must say that people are trying to fight burnout even without any science. But these methods are often "barbaric", negative. For example, professional cynicism (even expressed in special expressions, terms). Listen to what you call your students? This noisy gang, which - you won't have time to catch your breath after the next lesson - is already running into the office and strives to turn everything upside down?

Another negative method is physical and emotional alienation, the desire to keep children at a distance, not to allow touching, not to notice their physical shell, life problems, mental states. Professional cynicism is developed that helps avoid disappointment. Although this seems unfair to many: how can you work with students without feeling any emotional attachment to them?

Another way to avoid “wasting yourself” is ritualization. When communicating with clients or students, always adhere to the ritual, routine, demand unquestioning following instructions. Then the work goes on as if on rails: we met, worked, and fled.

Energy "vampirism" also helps individual workers. There is no mysticism here, just a person uses the moment of someone else's embarrassment, suffering, humiliation, failure to rise, to assert himself. Then the suppression of others becomes a strong and productive motivation. Although not entirely constructive and comfortable.

It happens that a person copes with burnout, emphasizing his own value, necessity, and the irreplaceability of his person and work. In many collectives there is such an employee, maybe a caretaker, storekeeper, secretary or responsible for completing documents, without whose highest permission nothing can be done. It is absolutely irreplaceable. However, the day comes, another worker replaces it, and everything goes on as before, the organization does not crumble to dust.

A special way to deal with stress (and burnout in particular) is the use of psychoactive substances. In the West, all kinds of stimulants that psychopharmacology offers are in use. However, sometimes ordinary alcoholic drinks and cigarettes are used.

Teachers can be understood: their work is hard on the psycho-emotional level. It is not surprising that in teaching collectives there are often both people suffering from "burnout" and those who use "barbaric" methods of avoiding it.

CONSTRUCTIVE METHODS OF COMBATING BURNOUT

There are also positive methods that allow you to smooth out or avoid burnout altogether - without alienation and conflict.

First of all, you can use the rich arsenal of psychotherapy and all kinds of psycho-trainings, which are owned by professional psychologists and game technicians. Large enterprises regularly hold similar events, essentially "games for adults", which sharpen attention, increase efficiency, and promote the rapprochement of employees (in our country, however, for rapprochement and raising the corporate spirit, they are more often limited to the tradition of a noisy feast). Role-playing games, business games, tolerance training (tolerance to irritating factors), situational training are most often used.

Learning remains perhaps the most effective way to avoid burnout. A person is stimulated and aimed at success in work not so much by acquiring new knowledge and mastering technologies as by “overcoming oneself”. Therefore, it is very important to feel this transition to a new level, mastering the intermediate steps, especially if some symbol remains in the memory of “overcoming”: a certificate, diploma, award, souvenir. Usually, participation in trainings, field seminars, refresher courses becomes a strong incentive to overcome routine and burnout. In addition, these measures smooth out the so-called "professional deformation of the personality" (when a lawyer in every interlocutor, against his will, sees a potential offender, a psychiatrist - a hidden psychopath, and a teacher - a negligent student).

Another incentive is constructive assessment. Adults, like children, need someone to appreciate their work. For this purpose, enterprises use a whole technology of "assessment" of personnel. It takes into account personal potential, opportunities for a particular activity, attests the objective results of work and subjective feedback from colleagues, management, and most importantly - clients and students.

In schools, it is not uncommon for management to ignore student feedback on teacher performance. I observed such a situation even in paid correspondence universities, where adults with extensive life experience study. They do not try to influence the choice of teachers, so that they present the program more clearly, engage in education and training, and not just certification. Despite the fact that students themselves pay for the work of these teachers, as well as for the work of managers of the educational process.

In many educational institutions around the world, taking into account the opinion of students is in the order of things: this is an important component of the rating of teachers. Of course, it also takes into account the fact that a demanding teacher may gain less popularity. Therefore, in the ranking, first of all, justice, respect for students, a creative approach, the ability to interest the audience, the desire for cooperation, and not confrontation with students are noted.

It's not that simple here. Evaluation of personnel can become a means to improve the work and psychological state of people, but it can also turn into an end in itself, when a lot of effort is spent on beautiful reports and "show off", as well as provide ground for intrigue and personal grievances. The reward can stimulate a person not to improve their performance, but to “rest on their laurels”. And yet, feedback, evaluation of work results by clients and colleagues, is considered a prerequisite for fruitful and harmonious work.

Another way to avoid burnout is novelty. Changing activities, introducing technical innovations, updating programs, changing places of residence and work can be very productive. In large organizations, there is a tradition of "personnel rotation", which is especially relevant for managers. They regularly transfer to the leadership of other departments, often to branches of other cities. This avoids stagnation.

The amalgamation of training, assessment and renewal is achieved at field events. And a short trip to the conference, the publication of a printed work can be very effective in the fight against burnout.

Enriching work and creating a super task helps to reduce monotony. What a super task is, is well illustrated by the parable of three builders, one of whom "dragged the damned wheelbarrow," the other "earned bread for the family," and the third "built a beautiful temple."

High-quality organization management is impossible without assignment of tasks, taking into account the individual inclinations of employees. Some need strict control, others require a lot of freedom and do not tolerate supervision. Some people prefer varied jobs, others are intimidated by unfamiliar tasks.

Personal resentment, conflict, frustration (psychological suffering), mobbing (collective “bullying”) inflict a serious blow on performance. Mobbing can be done by colleagues, managers and students. Usually this is done by some kind of "initiative" group. It is enough to neutralize it: by persuasion, positive or negative reinforcement, sometimes simply by punitive measures, and sometimes by unexpected encouragement, and the conflict will dissolve.

In general, methods of conflict psychology are required to get out of such situations. Obviously, such situations are easier to prevent than to correct their consequences. Therefore, compliance with mental hygiene and psychological safety is of great importance for the prevention of burnout among teachers.

When communicating with Western experts, they are surprised by their deliberate benevolence, the desire to avoid conflicts, the formalization of results and assessments. "Interesting job! Facts were selected and analyzed. To our great regret, the validity of the conclusions is somewhat incomplete, and the deadlines for the delivery of the project have not been met. We hope that the author will have undoubted success in his future activities. All the best!" - Such a "laudatory" review, oddly enough, may mean an irrevocable refusal, a "two".

On the one hand, this is insincerity, on the other, mental hygiene. Even when rejected, you don't feel hurt and you don't want to protest. And here is the opposite example: “Surprisingly, the essay was written without errors and to the point. I probably wrote it off. However, there are a lot of unnecessary words, blots, the notebook is kind of wrinkled. And you still don’t wait for a good grade! So I give three points. "

It is useful to avoid scandals, conflicts, undefined obligations (especially those outside the scope of official duties), unnecessary responsibility. An element of psychohygiene is a positive attitude, the ability to pay attention to 95% of the pluses, and not to 5% of minuses, failures and mistakes. Unfortunately, the teacher develops just such a "professional personality deformation" - the desire to look for flaws, errors in the body of the correct text. This harms both the soul of the teacher and the student. Let's take an everyday example: when we glue the wallpaper, we grab the heart from a small scratch or pattern mismatch. However, a month passes, and we can no longer remember where this defect was - no one notices it. All that is visible is the fact: there is new wallpaper in the room. It also happens, you take a boy's thickly written notebook: he did a great job! But mistakes, blots, omissions accumulate, and in the end the result is a "three"! After a month, the essence of specific mistakes is forgotten, but the feeling of chronic failure remains.

It is better to evaluate students not for the accuracy of their performance, but for the amount of merit. A person can make a lot of mistakes, wander in the labyrinths of his forgetfulness and ignorance, but he did a great job - to the detriment of other matters, overcame his busyness, so he “worked out” a positive assessment. If a student, without answering the question posed, gets a three, he will never acquire knowledge and confidence. Better to give him a variety of questions, from simple to complex. So that he found a "fulcrum", his level of competence, from which he can build on and grow. And evaluate it for the amount of correct answers. This method is especially good for solving problems of general education, enlightenment, upbringing, and not teaching special skills.

Without compliance with professional hygiene and safety, it is impossible to create comfortable conditions for fruitful work. These conditions include both psychological parameters (including a sense of safety and comfort, visual and acoustic comfort) and physical parameters (air, comfortable equipment and clothing, healthy food). Feeling unwell, fatigue can be caused by such factors as tight-fitting clothes and shoes that disturb blood circulation, or stale office air saturated with toxins from heated plastic and tobacco smoke, flashing and buzzing fluorescent lamps, as well as the usual office "snack" - tea with sweets. Many office workers in the West are ditching cakes and coffee in favor of fruits and vegetables, muesli and herbal teas.

Respiratory hygiene and positive visual stimuli are of particular importance to the teacher. In our country, few people think that the cause of asthmatic cough is often chalk and cellulose dust, where microscopic mites, fungal spores and other allergens accumulate. And that a dirty board, where chalk inscriptions are smeared with a semi-dry cloth, reduce perception by ten percent. Therefore, many schools generally abandon chalk, using felt-tip pens.

Finally, to avoid the "burnout" effect, it is very important to dose your work and be able to complete it on time. Many of us, starting some kind of life project, create a "huge number of plans" and strive to make it endless. However, the normal “lifespan” of successful projects is about five years. We are upset if a magazine, musical or other creative collective ceases to exist, without thinking that this is a “project” - a temporary unification of people. Those who work for a limited time, striving to get the result, correctly formulate it and evaluate it. And then - a new project, possibly continuing the idea of ​​the old one, but with a different result.

Teaching is also a kind of "temporary project" for both the student and the teacher. Therefore, it is necessary from the very beginning to know how to complete the activity, what the parting will be like.

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