While burnout is not yet officially recognised by the NHS, Walker recommends heading to a doctor to talk about your symptoms as burnout can lead to high stress and also cause similar symptoms of depression.
If so, you may be on the road to burnout. Yes, burnout is real and is now a legitimate medical diagnosis according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) handbook, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), that guides medical providers in diagnosing diseases.
Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion. Increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job. Reduced professional efficacy.
Psychological treatments for burnout
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for people who are experiencing burnout [14,15]. It can be provided as a one-to-one therapy, in groups, or alongside other types of help like career counseling or working with employers.
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.
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.
The final stage of burnout is habitual burnout. This means that the symptoms of burnout are so embedded in your life that you are likely to experience a significant ongoing mental, physical or emotional problem, as opposed to occasionally experiencing stress or burnout.
While burnout is not a mental health disorder, it is closely tied to a few. Burnout can be a cause of a mental health disorder, but mental health conditions can also cause burnout. According to a study conducted by the University of Macedonia, burnout has an interconnected relationship with both depression and anxiety.
In Australia, burnout isn't listed as a formal medical condition. In fact, the World Health Organization positions it as an 'occupational phenomenon' rather than an official diagnosis.
Burnout seems to be affecting so many people right now it is surprising the experience is not officially recognised in Australia as a medical or mental health condition.
If you've noticed changes to how you think and feel that concern you, talk to your GP about them. There might be an obvious cause for your feelings – like bereavement or work stress – or you might not know why you feel the way you do. It's ok to seek help either way.
If you are feeling exhausted, both physically and mentally, and struggle to find the motivation to finish work or other responsibilities, you might be experiencing burnout. If you've been having trouble finding the right balance between your work and home life, this can be a sign of burnout as well.
By looking at specific biomarkers such as blood sugar, cholesterol, inflammation markers, and certain hormones, a blood test can reveal the effects of burnout on your body and help detect problems before they occur.
Similarly, the Mayo Clinic calls burnout “a special type of work-related stress—a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity,” and specifies that it “isn't a medical diagnosis.”
childhood trauma can also lead to what is known as “burnout.” This is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion from chronic stress.
A separate research review that looked at 15 high-quality studies on the cognitive effects of burnout found "executive attentional and memory systems appear to suffer in association with burnout, and cognitive functioning is impaired in burned-out individuals," APS also notes.
While anxiety is characterized by excessive worry and fear, burnout is characterized by feelings of exhaustion and loss of motivation. It's important to recognise the symptoms of both anxiety and burnout and seek help if needed to prevent them from impacting your work and overall well-being.
Burnout doesn't go away on its own; rather, it will get worse unless you address the underlying issues causing it. If you ignore burnout, it will only cause you further harm down the line, so it's important that you begin recovery as soon as possible.
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.
Burnout can be accompanied by physical symptoms such as headaches, nausea, and sleeping difficulties. It is important to recognize and treat burnout early, and with psychological counseling and support, most people begin to feel better and recover quickly.