Burnout – how to deal with it?

Work used to be a challenge and an opportunity to fulfill yourself , but today you feel neither contentment nor satisfaction. You are tired , you perform tasks automatically and half-heartedly, and before the integration meeting you only think about excuses that will sound convincing enough to avoid integration. Additionally, you feel discouraged and exhausted , both physically and mentally. Sounds familiar? This is burnout - a condition that affects a huge number of working people.

The cause of burnout is stress . If it lasts for a long time, it causes mental and physical devastation . It is associated with excess responsibilities , a sedentary lifestyle and lack of balance between professional, private and family life. Stress that persists for a long time causes not only frustration and mental fatigue , but also somatic symptoms such as headaches, insomnia and abdominal pain. The list is much longer.

Burnout in Poland – what is the situation?

According to research, a huge number of employees struggle with burnout . The report prepared as part of the "Understand. Feel. Act" campaign by Employers of Poland and the ArteMis Group shows that as many as 85% of respondents agree with the opinion that burnout is a condition that most often affects employees . "Among the causes of the emergence and strengthening of disorders in employees, respondents from the employer group indicate primarily: too much stress (80.5%), time pressure (74%), too many tasks (66.5%), too much pressure from superiors (54% )" – reads a fragment of the report. Respondents also mentioned lack of integration in the team, lack of competence to perform tasks, personal difficulties of employees, family problems of employees, unhealthy lifestyle of employees, tasks below qualifications and inappropriate equipment.

The research results were commented on in the report by psychologist Ewelina Adamus-Pinda: "The research results indicate that burnout, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and adaptation disorders related to stress most often affect employees. The expert also spoke about excessive expectations towards employees in terms of availability, competence and flexibility. and pace of work, as well as strong pressure on time and results. In addition, there are conflicts, fierce competition and lack of trust in the team.

In turn, Dr. Marta Marchlewska, founder and head of the Political Cognition Laboratory at the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, emphasized: "All this is destructive not only from the point of view of the employee himself, but also of the employer . It results in low trust in the employer and less creativity . Employees are less effective , are on sick leave more often, they bring less profits.

Three stages of burnout.

An employee who is burnt out is in a poor mental state, is reluctant to go to work, performs his or her tasks, and relationships in the team in which he or she functions begin to deteriorate. Although the symptoms may be different in each case, there are basic stages of burnout . The first stage of emotional burnout appears , which manifests itself in permanent fatigue - the employee feels exhausted and overwhelmed. The second stage is the stage of depersonalization and cynicism , when the employee builds distance between colleagues and the team. Such a person becomes indifferent and mutes emotions related to work. In the third stage, a person affected by burnout feels a lack of competence and agency. 

Although burnout can affect anyone, the people most at risk of developing the condition are people who work in a way that requires intensive contact with people. These are teachers, health care workers, social workers, psychologists and people associated with non-governmental foundations whose work is to provide help. It very often affects activists.

How to deal with burnout?

As in any case, the best is... prevention . That is: preventing burnout before it occurs. The key here is to maintain a work-life balance and find time for yourself to regenerate . How? You can sing, dance, run or go to the gym. In other words, you can do anything that allows you to regenerate your strength, gives you pleasure and allows you to break away from your duties . If these methods do not work and your mental and physical condition is deteriorating, it is worth making an appointment with a psychotherapist or psychiatrist who will help you establish a plan to get out of this situation. Don't hesitate to ask for help . The sooner you do this, the less time you will need to recover.

Importantly, in Poland there is little awareness of the importance of work-life balance . We cannot rest, we are not aware of how important mental hygiene is, and "workaholism" has become a lifestyle for many. This is slowly changing, we still have a long way to go.

Bibliography:

Report "Mental health in the work environment", Employers of the Republic of Poland, ArteMis Group, ZUS, May 25, 2021.