The Burnout syndrome is a widely known and nowadays common issue that many people have to face. In medical terms this phenomenon is explained as a state of emotional and mental exhaustion, varying in intensity depending on the case. The declining stability on the work-market and the growing pressure people have to cope with, magnify this condition. The flood of work requirements, competition and stress on different levels of life can cause this feeling of mental overload.
Psychologists Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North concluded to this subject that the burnout process can be divided in different phases, which are not necessarily followed sequentially
1. compulsion to prove oneself
2. working harder
3.neglecting one's own needs
4.displacement of conflicts (the person does not realize the root cause of the distress)
5.revision of values (friends or hobbies are completely dismissed)
6.denial of emerging problems (cynicism and aggression become apparent) 7.withdrawal (reducing social contacts to a minimum, becoming walled off; alcohol or other substance abuse may occur)
8. behavioral changes become obvious to others
9.inner emptiness
10.depression
11.burnout syndrome
They concluded that the only way to manage this issue is to remove oneself entirely from the situation.
more on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(psychology)
The theory by psychologists Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North is very interesting. It has a lot of substance and sad to say, I can see a couple of the mentioned symptoms in some of my friends. I'm not talking about any severe cases, but everybody lives through periods of exhaustion and of being overwhelmed. It is important to every now and then take a break from the everyday chaos. In this blog I wanted to remind the people that recognize themselves in to many facts in the theory above, to take a timeout once in while. Because the consequences are often worth then the once of a shot break.
It is tough to function when your batteries are already empty and your day is just about to begin.
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You are right when you say that we have to take a break every now and then but the question is: How? Most people suffering from BurnOut are not able to take some days off because the competition on the jobmarket is quite tough. Someone working at the stock-market can skive work off for a few weeks and his job will be still protected, surely, but he won´t get a promotion anymore in the future.
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