The WHO has redefined burnout as a syndrome linked to chronic work stress.

writes Zaria Gorvett.

d some
eyebrows.

At the time, the term was used informally to describe the side effects that heavy drug users
experienced: the general dimming of the mental faculties, for example, as was the case with
many a party animal. However, when German-American psychologist Herbert
Freudenberger first recognised the problem of burnout in New York City in 1974, at a clinic
ug users.

According to the WHO, burnout has three elements:

too: their work was intense, and many were feelings of exhaustion, mental detachment from
beginning to feel demotivated and emotionally
drained. Though they had once found their jobs
rewarding, they had become cynical and depressed; and you
their patients the attention they treat any other illness until it was
deserved. Freudenberger defined this alarming new too late.
condition as a state of exhaustion caused by
prolonged overwork and borrowed the term FEELING THE BURN

but not quite

Burnout has three elements: feelings of exhaustion, burned out?
poorer
performance at work A lot of the signs and symptoms of pre-burnout

Its popularity was explosive, and today burnout is a
global phenomenon. Although statistics on the
prevalence of burnout specifically are hard to come
by, 595,000 people in the UK alone suffered from
workplace stress in 2018.
Sportspeople get it. YouTube stars get it.
Entrepreneurs get it. Freudenberger himself
eventually got it. Late last month, the World Health
Organization (WHO) announced that the trendy
problem will be recognised in the latest
International Classification of Diseases manual,
chronic workplace stress that has not been
Murray, a psychotherapist based in County Dublin,
Ireland, and the author of a book about burnout, The
Burnout Solution. Murray suggests looking out for
creeping bad habits, such as increased alcohol
consumpution and relying on sugar to get you
through the day. Also watch out for feelings of
tiredness
counting down the hours to bed. Or not having the
Although there are many treatment options for
depression, burnout is still best tackled by making
lifestyle changes

1
As soon as you begin to feel this way, Murray
advises going to see your doctor.
-burnout are very similar, but as
much as there was a lot of enthusiasm recently that
burnout has now become a medical condition, it is
still not it is still classified as an occupational
medical professional who can distinguish between
the two, because although there are many treatment
options for depression, burnout is still best tackled
by making lifestyle changes.
The work environment itself can contribute to the feeling of burnout,
especially when workers feel intense time pressure and very little
support (Credit: Alamy)
on the cusp
of burnout, or just going through a challenging
anxiety,
turn into
normal to feel a kick of adrenaline when you think
Murray suggests, if you still feel re
at risk of
2
into the next stage of your day, and adding to it
ot letting go, that it starts to
turn into burnout Siobhán Murray
Another classic sign of inching closer to burnout is
cynicism: feeling like your work has little value,
avoiding social commitments and becoming more
susceptible to disappointment.
ne on the brink will probably begin to feel
Jacky Francis Walker, a psychotherapist based in
capacity to engage as much in the
ordinary things of lif
She also recommends looking for the final tell-tale
sign of burnout, which is the unshakeable feeling
that the quality of your work is beginning to slip.
if they
If this seems less than scientific, look to the
Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), a test designed
to measure burnout. The most widely used is the
MBI-General Survey, which measures things like
exhaustion, cynicism, and some how well you think
First published in 1981, it has been cited hundreds
used to measure burnout once it's in full swing,
getting close.
-
The only way to stop burnout and banish it for
good is to root out the underlying problem.
can temporarily or permanently let go of? It might
be [sleeping a lot] to recover from the physical
signs of burnout,
 deliver on a big project, and meet all your personal

Walker has a three-step programme,

which includes figuring out why there is a
mismatch between what a person can offer
and what they feel they are being asked to

the need to be too perfect, or they might

having to work very hard to cover up that

thin

However, sometimes the work

environment is the problem. According to
a 2018 Gallup study of 7,500 US workers,
burnout stems from unfair treatment at
fitness goals all at the same time. She says it's
work, an unmanageable workload and a lack of
crucial to prioritise and not expect too much of
yourself; when others seem like the perfect boss
Workers were also stressed out by a lack of support
parent, fitness idol and friend all at the same time,
from their manager and unreasonable time pressure.
they're probably misleading us or at the very least
getting a lot of help.
values of the
If you feel that you might be close to joining the
own values, which creates a sense of strain and
dissonance, becau
going wrong and let yourself off the hook.
her clients can solve the problem by taking up
--
something fulfilling outside work, but very
occasionally they decide to make a more radical
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