Burnout: What It Is and Why It Matters

If you spend time reading about health and wellness online, you’ve probably noticed that burnout is suddenly everywhere. It’s blamed for the Great Resignation, for a nursing shortage, and for the incredible fatigue so many people feel during the holiday season. Burnout is more than just a buzzword, though. It’s a legitimate mental health issue, with far-reaching implications for businesses, medical providers, and families. Burnout that goes ignored can lead to additional mental health diagnoses, worsening physical health, family conflict, and poor work performance. Here’s what you need to know.

What Burnout Is

Burnout is the result of chronic, unrelenting stress. The stress often occurs at work, but can also happen within a family or volunteer job. For example, a volunteer crisis worker might feel burnout when exposed to chronic abuse, and a parent may feel overwhelmed or burned out when their children's needs are intense or their co-parent does not offer sufficient support.

Certain situations greatly increase the risk of burnout:

• Excessive working hours: People who work much more than full time, as well as those who do not get a break (such as single parents), may be at a higher risk of burnout.
• Institutional dysfunction: Inept or abusive leadership at work, inadequate support from a partner at home, or constantly changing institutional norms can lead to burnout.
• Lack of efficacy: People who feel their work isn’t making a difference may feel less motivated to continue.
• Lack of control: People who have little control over their work are at a higher risk of burnout. Micromanaging is a major burnout risk factor.
• Inadequate incentives: Lack of recognition, praise, and fair compensation can contribute to burnout.
• A particularly stressful workplace: People who deal with stress and trauma daily or who work with people who mistreat or discriminate against them may be more vulnerable to burnout.

Signs and Symptoms of Burnout

Signs and symptoms of burnout include these:

• Compassion fatigue
• Caring less about work or feeling less motivated
• Chronic distraction at work
• Feeling short-tempered or angry
• No longer caring about work
• Worsening work quality
• Feeling hopeless about work
• Feeling less concerned about others’ well-being
• Depression, anxiety, thoughts of suicide, and feelings of hopelessness and despair
• ·Unexplained physical ailments

Why Burnout Is So Harmful

Burnout is more than just stress. It’s the result of prolonged, unmanaged, chronic stress in a person who does not have the coping tools they need. And like other forms of chronic stress, it can have catastrophic health effects. Some of the immediate potential effects include the following:

• Sleep difficulties
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Thoughts of suicide
• Changes in eating habits or appetite
• Headaches
• Muscle tension and pain
• Gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea and constipation
• Substance use and abuse

Over time, burnout can increase the risk of serious chronic health problems such as these:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Cancer
• Immune system deficiencies

Burnout also raises the risk of suicide.

The effects of burnout extend far beyond the individual, though, especially when burnout affects a parent or a person in a caring profession. Research consistently estimates that roughly half of doctors are suffering significant burnout. The effects on others of burnout include the following:

• Dangerous professional errors, such as prescribing or giving the wrong medication
• Financial and accounting errors that may affect an entire business or government
• Relationship issues such as increased conflict and sometimes even abuse
• Parenting challenges, such as difficulties being present, losing one’s temper, or trouble balancing work and family
• Difficulties driving or performing other demanding tasks

Treatment for Burnout

Burnout is a sign of organizational or social dysfunction, rather than a problem with the burned-out individual. This means that when a person is burned out, traditional treatments like medication are unlikely to work. Instead, a person needs relief from the stress. The system that caused the burnout also needs to change to prevent worsening burnout. For example, a parent struggling with household inequality and insufficient parenting support may need additional childcare, assistance from a partner, a break, and a more balanced family workload. A medical provider might need more meaningful work, more control over their work, or to work fewer hours.

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Therapy, however, can help a person dealing with burnout, especially when burnout causes other issues like depression and anxiety. Therapy may also be helpful for identifying the root cause of the burnout and the extent to which you can control it. Research suggests that mindfulness-based strategies can be especially helpful for burnout. Moreover, people who spend at least 20 percent of their time on work they find meaningful are less likely to develop burnout symptoms.

Other Strategies for Dealing With Burnout

Burnout is a serious health issue that will not go away on its own. People who experience burnout may need to make lifestyle changes or advocate for institutional changes that reduce the risk of burnout. Some strategies that may help include the following:

• Taking time off of work
• Shifting the balance of work, or the amount of time a person spends on specific tasks
• Reducing overall workload
• Asking for more help, such as from a partner or colleague
• Practicing self-care strategies such as getting enough sleep, drinking water, and exercising

The first step in dealing with burnout is to acknowledge it and make a plan to address the things that you can control about the circumstances that led to it.