Feelings of cynicism and detachment are signs of burnout. Together with other symptoms, they can lead to an inability to successfully function. In the early stages of burnout, the loss of enjoyment one feels may be only for work.
Being burned out means feeling empty and mentally exhausted, devoid of motivation, and beyond caring. People experiencing burnout often don't see any hope of positive change in their situations. If excessive stress feels like you're drowning in responsibilities, burnout is a sense of being all dried up.
When a person reaches a phase of burnout, they may be unable to complete their responsibilities at a job or at home. The inability to take care of day-to-day obligations will lead to increased stress and eventually to a mental breakdown.
Symptoms of burnout as already mentioned are the spiritual and emotional exhaustion, the depersonalization and the decreased sense of personal achievement. Moreover, distress symptoms such as fatigue, physical and mental, and feelings of depression, regarded as the most characteristic symptoms of burnout (15,16).
Your brain on burnout
Chronic stress has long been known to contribute to mental and physical diseases, and now researchers are able to capture what happens to the brain. “One of the most striking (effects) is thinning of the gray matter of an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex,” Arnsten said.
Others may note an odd change in behavior when this type reaches burnout as they can start to become increasingly irritable, cynical, and uncooperative.
Burnout is when a person reaches a state of total mental, physical and emotional exhaustion and it has some similar signs and symptoms to a nervous breakdown. Your doctor can prescribe medicines for many mental health conditions, and refer you to other healthcare professionals, such as psychologists or psychiatrists.
How Long Does Burnout Last? 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.
If left untreated, burnout can become a part of your everyday life and eventually lead to anxiety or depression. You can also begin to experience chronic mental and physical fatigue that prevents you from working. Your job status may be put in jeopardy if you continue on this path.
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.
In some instances, employees still report feeling burnout even after one year, and sometimes even after a decade (Cherniss, 1990). Other naturalistic studies suggest recovery takes between one and three years (Bernier, 1998).
There is evidence that stressful life experiences can cause psychosis. In particular, abuse or other traumatic experiences.
#1: Burnout Alters Your Brain
Neuroscientists discovered that burnout has the following effects on your brain: It enlarges your amygdala – the part of the brain that controls emotional reactions. This can increase moodiness. It also causes you to have a stronger stress response when startled.
“Burnout” is now classified as a mental illness caused by unmanaged stress at work. Many lifestyle factors can be adjusted to help reduce the effects of Burnout such as changing diet, effective supplementation and self-care protocols.
Despite the grip that burnout has over so many of us, recovery is possible. While there's no quick fix to burnout, there are many ways to alleviate stress levels and return to a healthier state of being.
Individuals with burnout symptoms feel negative about tasks, have difficulty concentrating, and often lack creativity. Together, this results in reduced performance.
Burnout is like a relationship that's gone bad: When the employment relationship is no longer beneficial to either party, and the prospects for reviving it are dim, it may be time to call it quits.
Some event or change in your life is causing you an intense amount of stress, which is causing symptoms such as fear, anxiety, worry, nervousness and depression. You may feel “stuck,” overwhelmed or incapacitated, which makes you unable to cope and function with life.
Burnout can leave its handprint on our brain structure. Our brains can change due to burnout, so after many months of experiencing burnout, we need to grant our brain the appropriate time for healing.
Being a "Type A" personality (or even just working closely with someone who is) can cause chronic stress, which increases your risk for burnout. If you find yourself being impatient with people and life's minor hassles and having trouble keeping from lashing out at people, you might be a "Type A" personality.
Anyone exposed to chronically stressful conditions can experience burnout, but human services employees, first responders, and those in educational services are at an even higher risk, especially as the public continues to resist COVID-19 prevention measures.