When you are mentally exhausted, it can be challenging to balance your emotional responses since your ability to process stress is limited. You may become irritable, angry or anxious. And when you are emotionally exhausted, it can affect your attention span, concentration and ability to retain and process information.
Burnout typically refers to physical and mental fatigue caused by one's work-related stressors. In contrast, emotional exhaustion occurs as a response to negative challenges in life, relationships, home environments, and more.
Mental exhaustion is a feeling of extreme tiredness, characterized by other feelings including apathy, cynicism, and irritability. You may be mentally exhausted if you've recently undergone long-term stress, find it hard to focus on tasks, or lack interest in activities you usually enjoy.
Emotional exhaustion is taxing on your emotion and mood. Initially, people may start to feel more cynical or pessimistic than usual. Eventually, they may lose their motivation to socialize, work, or even perform simple tasks.
It takes an average time of three months to a year to recover from burnout. How long your burnout lasts will depend on your level of emotional exhaustion and physical fatigue, as well as if you experience any relapses or periods of stagnant recovery.
feel isolated — disinterested in the company of family and friends, or withdrawing from usual daily activities. feel overwhelmed — unable to concentrate or make decisions. be moody — feeling low or depression; feeling burnt out; emotional outbursts of uncontrollable anger, fear, helplessness or crying.
Signs of burnout include: Excessive use of substances, including alcohol, drugs and prescription drugs. Physical and mental overwhelm and fatigue. Moodiness and irritability.
Emotional signs and symptoms of burnout
Sense of failure and self-doubt. Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated. Detachment, feeling alone in the world.
For some people, emotional symptoms manifest as physical ones, such as when anxiety causes a person's heart to race . Moreover, chronic mental exhaustion may cause physical health symptoms such as headaches or muscle aches.
The main difference between someone mentally exhausted and someone lazy is that someone who is mentally exhausted feels numb and won't care about the consequences anymore (IDSMED, 2019). If this sounds like you, then it's very important that you acknowledge the fact that you're not just being lazy.
The brain becomes less able to regulate our emotions in the expected ways, resulting in visible emotional responses, such as tears or angry outbursts. We might not even realise how overwhelmed we are until tears are running down our face after a seemingly minor incident or experience.
This is commonly known as brain fog or mental fatigue. According to recent research, an overstimulated brain impairs your cognitive abilities. This affects your productivity, decision-making skills, or memory. For example, brain fog makes it hard to concentrate.
2. Depersonalization: is a distant or indifferent attitude towards work. Depersonalization manifests as negative, callous, and cynical behaviors; or interacting with colleagues or patients in an impersonal manner.
Empathy burnout is common when individuals spend so much of their emotional strength relating deeply to the problems and stress of others that they forget to care for themselves.
The most common signs someone is having a mental breakdown are: Hopelessness. Thoughts of suicide. Sense of worthlessness.
Typically, a psychotic break indicates the first onset of psychotic symptoms for a person or the sudden onset of psychotic symptoms after a period of remission. Symptoms may include delusional thoughts and beliefs, auditory and visual hallucinations, and paranoia.
According to Helpline, the most common symptoms of such a breakdown are depressive symptoms, such as loss of hope and thoughts of suicide or self-harm, anxiety with high blood pressure, tense muscles, clammy hands, dizziness, upset stomach, trembling, insomnia, hallucinations, extreme mood swings or unexplained ...
“Emotional exhaustion is often a sign that a person isn't able to have a healthy balance between work and life. This imbalance leads to feeling anxious, resentful, stressed, or having a lack of motivation to try to perform at a normal level. It's important to recognize the signs and symptoms of emotional exhaustion.
Many of the symptoms of depression are the same as emotional exhaustion. The biggest difference is that depression can manifest as feelings of loneliness and sadness with no apparent reason.