You fall violently ill one day and there are two physicians who are available to treat you. To your right is Dr. Black, who has no experience whatsoever in the disease that ails you. To your left is Dr. White, who is expert on the diagnosis and treatment of your disease, but really doesn’t care about patients, medicine or healing the sick at all. You are really stuck like Buridan’s ass, aren’t you?
Burnout, while not a clinical diagnosis, is a psychological term for long-term exhaustion, coupled with a lack of interest or motivation. Persons who are burned out exhibit signs of exhaustion, cynicism, and ineffectiveness. It is quite common among professionals. Estimates as to the number of practicing physicians who experience burnout run as high as 60%.
Burnout, unlike disorders such as depression, can be temporary. But if the burned-out professional does not take significant steps to ameliorate the causes of burnout, the effect will remain.
So what are some of the signs of burnout?
Bleak outlook. When you are experiencing burnout, it is harder to get excited about life, expect the best, let things roll off your back, and to be positive in general. Optimism is a great antidote to stress. But if you suffer from burnout, optimism is not part of your daily outlook. Instead, the bleak outlook feeds into the stress, which in turn creates a bleaker outlook, and pretty soon you feel like a character in a Charles Dickens novel.
Lack of physical energy. Prolonged stress is physically draining. Moreover, if you are stressed you tend to have difficulty sleeping, will often not eat right, will not be motivated to exercise or do pleasurable activities, and again wind up in a situation cause and effect become one and the same.
Emotional exhaustion. As if being physically tired and lacking in energy isn’t bad enough, you are often emotionally “tired” as well. What does this look like? It can vary depending upon your personality, but you may find yourself impatient, irritable, moody, or uncharacteristically quiet. You may find the skills that you use to cope with day-to-day life are impaired.
[Be sure to follow Part II on January 23, 2014]