Burned out
Severe forms of occupational crises have increased significantly in recent times; they often overshadow longer periods of adult working life. “Burnout” is the most common and most prevalent occupational crisis of our age. How does it occur and what can be done to prevent it?
Marianne Klauser Stalder
The concept of burnout, as the word itself implies, describes a condition of being burned out. But only someone who has been on fire, that is, someone who has been working red-hot can burn out. It is often committed people who are affected by this condition, people who take their responsibilities seriously and have given their all to their occupation, day in, day out over many years.
However, over time signs of work-weariness creep in, at first hardly noticeable, but then ever more pronounced: The person affected feels fatigued or exhausted and realises that the drive and enthusiasm he once had have waned. Now he must often force himself to do certain tasks that previously came easy to him. He recognises his slower working speed and his diminished powers of concentration. He sees what needs to be done, but he can no longer summon the energy to see it through … It feels just like after a surgical operation, a feeling of weakness which engenders dismay or even anger because he would have never thought this possible.
In particular, enthusiasm for new ideas has largely dried up. Also, supportive contacts with others that require physical or mental interaction quickly become vexatious to the worker.
If the condition persists, it may happen that those affected react in a maladjusted, prickly and even in an aggressive manner towards their surroundings. In recent burnout research this condition is described as “cynicism”, indicating a significant emotional difference to other depressive illnesses.
Having to experience the gap which exists between the external or internal requirements and the actual performance level may sometimes cause anxiety and uncertainty which can then trigger inner conflicts with oneself and with one’s surroundings.
One looks forward to the holiday or to the weekend as a “break” from work in order to relax, but no sooner has the work started again, when this feeling of chronic fatigue and sluggishness returns, accompanied by a feeling of alienation from the responsibilities incurred by the job.
This phase may well last years, and can almost turn into a habit, unless a genuine impetus to change one’s life comes from within or changes occur from without that compel a radical reappraisal, which in turn compels new steps to be taken.
If in this phase the steps towards recovery are missed, then this omission may eventually engender severe forms of depression.
Burnout – a new phenomenon?
Although the number of people affected by burnout has grown tremendously of late, the phenomenon itself is not new. Probably the most impressive portrayal in literature is seen in the novel “Buddenbrooks” by Thomas Mann. The quotation below is from the perspective of the youngest scion of the Buddenbrook family, Hanno, who becomes painfully aware of his father’s exhaustion:
“He saw not only the unerring charm which his father exercised upon everything: he saw as well with strange and anguished penetration, how cruelly hard it was upon him. He saw how his father, paler and more silent after each visit, would lean back in his corner of the carriage with closed eyes and reddened eyelids; he realised with a sort of horror that on the threshold of the next house a mask would glide over his face, a galvanised activity take hold of the weary frame …”
His father, Senator Thomas Buddenbrook, the head of the respectable firm Buddenbrook, for his part, is painfully aware that in view of the steady decline of his business, he would need the full strength and vigour he had in his early years in order to turn things around, but:
“He was possessed by one desire: to give in to this dull despair, to steal away and lay at home, with his head resting on a cool pillow.”
The New York psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberger coined the term “burnout syndrome” in the 1970s. Together with a team of volunteers he had established a drop-in centre for drug-dependent people. After a period of strong commitment he noted in himself and in his staff growing signs of exhaustion, and increasing irritability towards the users of his advice centre.
These examples describe the essence of a burnout disorder impressively: it is about standing aloof from one’s task, about being emotionally drained, about physical weariness and perceived futility. The ones affected can no longer connect with their task. The joy of activity is lacking, as is the inner movement, the “glow” for a task.
Something is out of balance
The examples given here show how varied the causes of a burnout can be: Thomas Buddenbrook placed the reputation of the family and its tradition above everything else and never questioned his duty to preserve it; neither did he seek any other meaning for what he did nor thought about whether the type of work really suited his nature.
Not only that, he even tried to reshape the education of his only son Hanno in order that he be suitably qualified to enter the family business and to coerce him to do so, although this child with his musicality and his whole being showed a very different nature, rather similar to that of his mother, which was totally unsuitable for a business career.
Quite different is the case of the New York staff helpers: These had been fully committed and enthusiastic about their task, which apparently suited both their personal aspirations and professional qualifications well. However, they had to organise this drop-in centre as volunteers in their leisure time, thus in addition to other psychological counselling activity. Needless to say, this one-sided energy expenditure quickly exhausted their reserves.
Thus with every burnout disorder individually different causes can be identified; causes that in one case can have more to do with the occupational side, while in other cases the cause tends to be rooted in the personal nature instead.
The identification of these individually different causes of burnout is an essential prerequisite for any cure.
Causes on the job level
Present-day pressure to hold down costs in many companies often forces employees to work at a persistently high speed. A one-sided and rapid consumption of energy can be the result. At the same time the worker also has to monitor his output in purely quantitative terms, which means that many work processes must be recorded statistically and converted into costs, even in the social professions. This promotes a one-sided intellectual orientation. But he who can no longer have a feeling for his work is in danger of only functioning mechanically. So it is with many carers who must record every action taken in the care of their patients at the bedside with a code. But purely human actions such as cheerful conversation, a comforting handshake, or the art of just being there and listening are not on the list of codes, and are therefore given no score and thus not taken into consideration in assessments and appraisals.
Moreover, the first burnout investigations in the 1980s already illuminated the detrimental effects of saddling social services with a high administrative workload.
Recent studies point to other occupational hazards: being under public scrutiny and in the media spotlight for long durations (politicians), scarcity of information about how a job is to be done well; lack of mutual assistance; role conflicts; lack of acknowledgement and feedback culture; unnecessary restrictions in the exercising of competencies and an environment where quantitative efficiency counts above all else.
A large output of work required over a long period of time and involving a large number of hours worked per week at a persistently high speed holds an especially great risk of burnout.
Common to all these occupational risk factors is a one-sided focus on economic and other concepts which concentrate on material values only, that then make it difficult for the individual worker to be engaged with feeling, responsibility and a sense of fulfilment.
These issues also highlight the direction in which the necessary measures for the prevention of burnout should be sought on the organisation and management level: to engender a human and appreciative working atmosphere, in which there is space for mutual assistance and support, which in turn, will then carry the best prophylaxis against burnout and other stress disorders, as many current health research studies reveal.
Causes at the level of the individual
The risk of suffering from burnout is especially great for those people who give their occupation a very high priority in their lives.
In the case of the ambitious hard worker, the “workaholic”, who “throws” his best energies into his occupation over many years, it can happen that, often triggered by an unpleasant incident, all his strength suddenly dissipates. He must realise that he – without having noticed it himself – has relentlessly used up his energy reserves.
The employee, who intends to meet all expectations, without ever setting boundaries, on the other hand, experiences a gradual process of energy depletion, which assumes increasingly drastic forms the longer this behaviour lasts.
In addition, the individual temperament as well as the ageing process holds the risk of the affected worker no longer being able to keep up with present-day demands regarding the pace of work.
This discrepancy between the demands made and the individual’s ability to cope with these requirements is the most important cause of stress disorders.
The reasons are different again with younger performance oriented people who invest a lot of time and money in ongoing vocational training, who then go on to carve out new careers, but suddenly come to the realisation that they are not happy with their new duties, since their new line of work does not conform to their nature – an experience that brings discomfort, such as if one is walking in ill-fitting shoes.
Thus the present-day demands for ongoing professional training and further education can also increase the risk of a disconnection from one’s occupation taking place, as recent studies show.
This risk is inherent even in the very first career choice taken by young people, namely if the job is selected only according to external criteria such as job security, remuneration levels and promotion opportunities.
The experience that a vocational field does not suit or no longer suits one’s personality, one’s own views and abilities compels an unnatural effort to be made in order to remain in the occupation. It costs considerable effort to counterbalance the associated loss of energy over the longer term.
Escaping burnout
The healing process necessitates self-awareness as well as a critical examination of one’s occupational field and requires time for a necessary reorientation of one’s life as well. Checking whether one’s current vocation meets one’s personal requirements is probably the first question that should be addressed.
But first of all an admission must be made that one is entangled in a disharmony, which acts as an impediment to the joyful experiencing of life, stifling all creativity.
It makes sense then to look back in review to find out where the causes of the current disharmonious situation lie, whether they are more likely to be found in the workplace or within oneself. In most cases, it will be a mixture of both.
Of course, the knowledge about one’s own contribution is especially important, since time and time again the life stories of individuals attest to the fact that the quest for security and distinction is often linked to an excessive workload.
With these fresh recognitions that have been gained by soul-searching, it is then a matter of letting the corrections envisaged by these personal recognitions be gradually incorporated into one’s life. In this process, the search for meaning, for spiritual values is of particular importance.
In most cases, fundamentally new answers are called for not only with regard to work, but also regarding the entire life.
While only in very rare cases is it necessary to turn one’s life completely around, generally speaking it is mostly a matter of expansion, an enrichment of life on the perceptive level.
It is in this way that people can find a new independence, which can create a new significance and fill their personal lives with warmth again. Then it is possible to set healthy boundaries, boundaries against external requirements and social norms, but also against one’s own psychological “driving forces”.
Opening up to new modes of experience
Trying new things and/or consciously modifying our behaviour in given situations are the best means to intentionally counteract one-sidedness in our life. The following list of suggestions is only meant to serve as a motivation:
• dealing with matters of life and death and seeking new answers to unsolved questions;
• being on the lookout for constructive and clarifying literature;
• experiencing nature and sensing the laws resting in it;
• taking walks on a river or lake, putting one’s feet in the water and tracing the waves;
• viewing landscape photographs and finding out where the light comes from;
• taking walks in forests and woodlands and identifying birds by their song;
• studying constellations in the sky;
• hiking in the mountains, including steeper slopes in order to evaluate one’s strength;
• experiencing elements of nature by learning to sail;
• splitting wood;
• switching diet temporarily to impart new vitality to the body: for example, giving preference to fruits, vegetables and herbs when they are in season;
• resolving old conflicts, casting off dross, letting go of old issues which have lost their relevance;
• focusing on the really important relationships, especially on what one can contribute to these;
• drawing up a list of the things in life which we are good at or aspire to be and consciously applying increased energy towards perfecting and developing these;
• pausing briefly in the morning and afternoon for reflection, taking a deep breath and consciously adopting an athletic, upright posture;
• trying something new and experiencing the “pioneer spirit”, for example learning to play the saxophone or another instrument, going to concerts, joining a choir;
• restricting leisure time spent on the computer and in front of the TV to a minimum;
• avoiding shopping malls, large stations or other large gatherings of people.
These examples may show that the point is to give room to the intuitive perception in everyday life, to reserve a little space for the “innermost self” and to consciously form havens or “retreats” in life which act as a counterbalance to one’s professional or occupational life. The way will then be opened to the acquiring of new values and the gaining of new experiences on the inner perceptive level which are the nourishment the soul needs to regain its vigour.
Then the (former) burnout-affected person will be in a position to realise that although the professional job is an important pillar in life that is to be appreciated, it nevertheless does not represent the most important thing to care about and to achieve in life.
The highest things in human life are those eternal spiritual values which stimulate and animate us throughout our existence, even in times when our workload threatens to overwhelm us; those eternal values that transcend the short-term realities of everyday life.
The conscious maintenance of a triad
The functions of life to promote development and strengthen health and vitality are best understood in the context of a triad in which not only the known areas of life (work, family and sports) have significance, but spiritual values above all else must play a decisive role.
These spiritual values alone can give valid answers about life in general as well as clarification on the life events of individuals.
Thus what is meant are all those values that lead people out of a mere “functionality” to the recognition of a higher meaning and which also bestow a new significance to everyday events.
