The Work Burnout Series, Part 1: Work Burnout Symptoms
The content in this essay series is not meant to constitute official medical advice, diagnose physiological or psychiatric disorders, or replace the guidance of trained professionals. Please refer to these essays as supplemental information only, and consult the guidance of trained professionals if you are feeling unwell.
In the wake of the COVID epidemic, the Great Resignation, climate change concerns, volatile global politics and a looming global recession, it probably comes as no surprise that the topic of occupational or work burnout and the general conversation on mental health have skyrocketed.
En-masse, people on a global scale seem to be burning out or on a path sloping down towards burning out. This especially includes medical or service professionals in the COVID epidemic, but also others outside of the medical/service fields (which is the sector where the concept of “burn out” originated from), too, such as tech, business, and client services.
One person in technology whom I talked to in my burnout research spoke this truth to the trend of burnout:
“While you may feel like an only, you’re actually not alone. More and more people feel this way and are having internal battles, monologues, and awareness to their own struggles with burnout, too.”
Another person I spoke with from digital marketing provided this lucid and tragic account of the damage wreaked on individuals, relationships, and society by burnout:
“Personally, I’ve seen people develop life-long physical disabilities due to stress of burnout. I’ve seen people become alcoholics to cope with burnout and blacklist themselves from the industry. I’ve seen managers expect individual members to stay late if the team is staying late (even if there’s no within their core responsibilities.) I’ve seen young talent get taken advantage of since their labor is cheap. I’ve seen people get verbally abusive around launch time due to overwork. I’ve seen people have serious mental breaks in the office and disappear.. [Or] take a year off work to mentally and physically recover after 10 years of overwork.”
But what exactly is burnout? How is burnout defined? What are burnout symptoms? What are the causes of burnout? What helps us avoid burnout, or deal with it if we have already become burned out?
This essay is part 1 of a 4-part series that aims to answer the above questions and shed more light on the theme of work burnout overall.
- Part 1: Work Burnout Symptoms
- Part 2: Work Burnout Recovery
- Part 3: Work Burnout Prevention
- Part 4: Work Burnout Awareness
This essay series is informed through the following knowledge sources:
1. My own firsthand learnings having experienced two work burnouts, as well discussions on burnout with friends/colleagues, and my training as a career coach
2. Interviews and surveys done with people who have either fully or partially burned out, as well as allies who have been working to reduce the prevalence and impact of occupational burnout
Please take this anonymous burnout survey to help expand the research
3. A whole host of additional research done on burnout, including research studies, NGO blogs, and other professional and personal blogs.
This essay series also led to the creation of a new initiative called Learn About Burnout, which will carry on past these 4 essays the task of exploring the causes of burnout, learning how to prevent/recover from burnout, and discuss what we can do to mitigate the prevalence and impact of work burnout.
Please share this burnout essay series and the Learn About Burnout website to raise awareness for burnout and mental health at work.
What is burnout?
To begin the discussion of what burnout is, here are some official definitions on burnout by mental health organizations and researchers.
The American Psychological Association (APA) notes that burnout was first used in the sense of “occupational“ burnout in 1974, by U.S. psychologist Herbert J. Freudenberger, and applied to the situation of workers in clinics with heavy caseloads (healthcare/service professionals).
The APA’s definition of burnout is:
“Physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance, and negative attitudes toward oneself and others. It results from performing at a high level until stress and tension, especially from extreme and prolonged physical or mental exertion or an overburdening workload, take their toll.”
In 2019, the World Health Organization elevated its recognition of the seriousness of burnout by upgrading burnout’s classification to an “occupational phenomenon.” Previously, the WHO simply defined burnout as a “state of vital exhaustion.”
The WHO’s definition of occupational burnout is:
“Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
1 — feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
2 — increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
3 — reduced professional efficacy”
The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)
The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is a methodology for evaluating burnout according to 3 categories, and is the most commonly accepted burnout definition criteria. As you can see, all 3 of the MBI dimensions for defining burnout were used in the WHO’s own definition of burnout:
- Exhaustion — measures feelings of being overextended and exhausted by one’s work (exhaustion in the MBI focuses on “emotional” exhaustion).
- Depersonalization / cynicism — measures an indifference or a distant attitude towards your work.
- Productivity / professional efficacy — measures satisfaction with past and present accomplishments, and it explicitly assesses an individual’s expectations of continued effectiveness at work.
The Shirom–Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM)
The SMBM is among the second most commonly used methodologies for measuring burnout in research and also assesses burnout along 3 dimensions; importantly, the SMBM focuses exclusively on “exhaustion” and sub-divides exhaustion into 3 different categories, whereas the MBI focuses on emotional exhaustion, but also incorporates output (productivity) and affect (depersonalization).
- Physical fatigue — an individual’s feelings of tiredness and low levels of energy in carrying out daily tasks at work (or in general life).
- Emotional exhaustion — feeling that one lacks the energy needed to invest in relationships with other people at work.
- Cognitive weariness — slower thinking and impaired mental agility.
Herbert Freudenberger (and Gail North), who officially coined the term “burnout” envisioned it as “burnout syndrome,” which is the 12th stage of a series of 12 progressive stages:
- The compulsion to prove oneself
- Working harder
- Neglecting needs
- Displacement of conflicts
- Revision of values
- Denial of emerging problems
- Withdrawal
- Odd behavioral changes
- Depersonalization
- Inner emptiness
- Depression
- Burnout syndrome
Here are some comments from people who have felt burnout firsthand:
- “A vicious cycle”
- “A complete lack of motivation paired with a high level of anxiety.”
- “A breaking point, can be any combination of physical/mental/emotional where you can no longer execute the day-to-day that is expected of you.”
- “A complete collapse of your day-to-day. During that time I almost entered a depression where all I wanted to do was stay in bed, avoid my work laptop at all costs, and hope that I would get fired so that I could get away from the stress.”
Read more burnout definitions from real people at Learn About Burnout.
Symptoms of burnout
Symptoms of burnout not only include mental or emotional symptoms such as anxiety or cynicism, but physiological symptoms, too, such as insomnia or headaches. Below is a list (that is non fully-inclusive of all symptoms that may be associated with work burn out) of some of the common symptoms or warning signs of burnout:
- Exhaustion/fatigue
- Irritation
- Cynicism
- Anxiety
- Numbness
- Headaches
- Reduced creativity
- Diminished cognitive functioning/memory
- Depression/dysthymia
- Withdrawal/antisocial behavior
- Listlessness/apathy
- Insomnia/sleep issues
In addition to the above symptoms, burnout may exacerbate or even cause other, serious health issues such as Crohn’s disease, depression, anxiety, or other mental disorders as well as diabetes, heart disease, body pain, chronic fatigue, respiratory issues, digestion problems. Burnout can even lead to an increased risk of death in those below the age of 45.
Note that most academic research, such as the above references, studies medical/caregiver occupational burnout. Yet, this does not diminish the real risks for all professions, and represents a need for expanded research on the dynamics of burnout.
Why does burnout happen?
There are many reason that can lead people to burn out.
For me, it was a combination of many things, such as:
- Not wanting to disappoint others
- Not taking the time to fully process my grief and sadness for a personal loss
- Believing that the happiness that would come from “succeeding” in entrepreneurship was going to make it all worthwhile, and that I couldn’t slow down or take a break, or else everything would start to unravel
Some common and diverse kinds of influencing factors include:
- Personal loss/pain
- Perfectionism or a need for control
- An intense work environment with high/unreasonable demands
- Not wanting to disappoint others or an inability to say no/prioritize one’s own wellbeing
- Trying to prove oneself; trying to get rid of the chip on the shoulder or outrun pain in the past
- Disillusionment from reaching a goal that doesn’t bring lasting happiness and resulting in doubling down
Here are some other comments from people who have burned out on the firsthand causes of burnout:
- “Having to adapt to a new environment of uncertainty in a new company”
- “An unhealthy coupling of my self-worth with my work performance, or how my work performance was perceived.”
- “Navigating ‘top performer’ status and ensuring I’m working on what the business feels is most important/impactful”
- “Unfortunately most of us push down/ignore [burnout] early signs due to work etiquette (what your CV should look like) and the need for a stable salary”
Read more burnout causes from real people at Learn About Burnout.
How does burnout happen?
Two key factors are instrumental in leading to a feeling of being burned out: chronic conditions (i.e. constant) of stress.
Burnout arises when we experience a prolonged exertion of effort and accumulation of stress, with insufficient rest and reward.
While we don’t think of mental exertion in the same way as physical exertion, as with physical energy, we do not draw from an unlimited store of mental/emotional energy. It also takes time and rest to rebuild our mental/emotional energy stores. If we don’t take sufficient time to rest or take breaks when working or mentally exerting ourselves, then eventually our mental health becomes negatively impacted, just as over-physical exertion without rest.
By burning the candle continuously without rest, we continue depleting our mental/emotional energy stores. As the level of stress continues to accumulate in our bodies and minds, chronic stress-related symptoms such as mental fatigue appear, followed by the early warning signs of burnout, such as diminished productivity. If we continue burning the candle at both ends, then the eventual result of chronic stress accumulation can be anything along Freudenberger and North’s 12 Stages of Burnout.
Not receiving enough rest is the most commonly known factor behind burnout (influencing the MBI’s exhaustion and productivity dimensions); however in addition to downtime/rest, another major factor is the reward for our efforts (influencing the MBI’s depersonalization dimension).
When combined with overexertion, when we also feel a lack of reward or validation for the work we do, this can cause us to depersonalize. Depersonalizing, in other words, means to disassociate with our relationships, our lives, and ourselves; in this state, we might feel as though we are watching our life through the eyes of someone else, and adopt a detached sense of reality.
The more we invest effort without receiving sufficient reward, the more pressure builds on our psychological state. As this pressure builds, it causes us to feel various emotions, which also affect our thoughts and psychological well being. The stages of burnout begin to set in as we go from mild feelings, such as disappointment or frustration, to more severe feelings, such as depression or anxiety.
Continuing to work without sufficient rest and an insufficient sense of reward for our work has a compounding effect.
- The more we work without proper rest/recovery, the more our productivity suffers.
- When we perceive a diminished productivity (the reward for our work), if we respond by continuing to work at a similar or a more aggressive pace in order to counter the loss in productivity, we set this negative feedback cycle in motion:
- A) the more we work without rest/recovery, B) the less reward we get per unit of work, C) the worse we feel about our reward, D) the less likely we are to rest/recover, and E) the worse we feel, and F) the more we will work to try to earn the reward/good feeling, and so on.
If this negative feedback cycle is not interrupted, the stages of burnout reach the breaking point, where the mind gives up or switches to escape-oriented decision-making. This is the result of our body’s circuit breaker tripping and overriding our mind, in an attempt to halt the negative feedback loop and finally be allowed to rest/recover.
While the burnout circuit breaker concept may seem like a “bad” thing, this is inherently a very necessary thing. Despite reaching a point that is serious, without this circuit breaker defense mechanism, more serious harm can be done to our psyche and body. It is this case of better late than later which gives us the chance to recover from a burnout.
While I’ve spent some time bashing stress, I would be remiss not to note that, while burnout is a stress-induced disorder, stress itself is not actually the problem; the problem is stress management, as stress coach, Christine Oliver explains.
The sympathetic nervous system and stress is a naturally-occurring and important system in our lives. Stress is a feedback system that informs us, focuses us, and motivates us. Without stress, we would not be able to navigate life.
The stress problems start when we find ourselves beset by too much stress (or even too little), and furthermore without respite from stress (i.e. too much sympathetic nervous activation and too little parasympathetic nervous system). This is when our ability to regulate the stress becomes impaired, and the consequences of chronic, unregulated stress cause damage.
Mitigating burnout, therefore, is not about eliminating stress altogether, but learning to maintain a healthy level of stress.
How long can burnout last?
The length of burnouts differ for everyone and often span several phases as outlined in the 12 stages of burnout, but the research respondents I spoke to reported their burnouts were as short as 1 week, and as long as 2 years, with the majority being 3–6 months.
Here is a relevant comment from someone who experienced different levels of burnout, with a constant, “lingering” feeling of burnout:
“My ‘full burnout‘ lasted for a few months until I was able to leave the position and frankly the environment that was causing me a lot of stress — even though I really loved my job. I mistakenly though did not take a ‘breather’ between my old and new role which in hindsight has left me in a bit of a continuous stage of ‘light burnout’ or brownout.
Can you burn out more than once?
Unfortunately, burnouts can indeed reoccur. Similar to the experience of being initially concussed, there may be a period of time after a burnout when, if not allowed to fully recover, one is more vulnerable to becoming burned out again. This is what happened in my case. Of the people I spoke with, ~20% have had multiple burnouts.
Again, a relevant comment from my research:
“My first burn out was due to having to adapt to a new environment of uncertainty in a new company, the second burn out came as I couldn’t cope with all the job on my table and when trying to solve for a couple of complex problems my body said no more”
Can burnout result in hospitalization?
Per research cited earlier about the symptoms and seriousness of burnout consequences, burnout can absolutely lead to hospitalization for physiological or mental complications. Multiple people I spoke with in research cited time spent in a mental institution or intensive care as part of their burnout recovery experience, such as this person:
“I went to a mental institution the first time as I was in a full panic attack modus, I had therapy for three months in a center, where I had no contact with the exterior world.”
Thank you for reading. Stay tuned for Part 2: Work Burnout Recovery, and please share this essay and the Learn About Burnout site to raise awareness for burnout.
And if you are personally struggling with burn-out, remember:
You are not alone.
You are not damaged goods.
You do not need to be ashamed.
You can make it through this.
Learn more about how working with a personal development coach can help you to live a more fulfilling life, sign up for my newsletter, and stay tuned for more self-discovery essays.
