The well-known expression “burned out at work” is not a fiction, but a very real phenomenon, which in psychology is called emotional burnout (mental burnout syndrome, burnout, professional burnout). This is an independent condition (not a symptom of some kind of disorder), characterized by chronic fatigue, indifference to work, to oneself and to other people, a feeling of emptiness, which arose against the background of the persistent stressful influence of work.
The essence of the phenomenon
The first studies and notes on the decrease in psychostability and performance, refusal to perform actions in demanding situations caused by the prolonged influence of stress, belong to the American psychologist Richard Lazarus and the Canadian doctor Hans Selye.
The terms “burnout” and “mental burnout” were coined by the American psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberger in 1974. At that time, the author characterized all employees undergoing chronic stress, provoked by abundant and highly emotional communication with clients, or in areas with increased emotional stress and responsibility.
At the same time, only doctors and social workers were classified as such professions, but soon this list became much wider:
- police officers,
- prison guards,
- security guards,
- military,
- doctors,
- social workers,
- politicians,
- lawyers,
- managers,
- sellers.
Thus, emotional burnout is understood as the depletion of physical, psychological (emotional) and intellectual strength. And in the modern view, all professions where you have to contact many other people on a daily basis belong to the risk group:
- teachers of all spheres and levels of education;
- doctors and nurses;
- psychologists and psychiatrists;
- social workers;
- veterinarians;
- employees of law enforcement agencies and the penitentiary system;
- trainers;
- judges;
- employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations;
- security guards;
- customs officers;
- managers and agents;
- athletes;
- operators;
- drivers;
- pharmacists;
- artists;
- other professions of the “person-to-person” type.
Burnout structure
Burnout has 3 components: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and oversimplification of achievement (personal and professional). Let’s consider each element in more detail.
Emotional exhaustion
This feeling:
- eternal fatigue;
- dissatisfaction;
- emptiness in relation to work and, as a rule, other areas of life.
If work for an adult takes up the bulk of the time, then it is logical that it is the fundamental principle of a person’s relationship to the whole world. If the meaning is not visible in the work, then it disappears in other areas as well. Over time, complete apathy develops and, of course, cynicism.
Cynicism
Depersonalization, or a cynical attitude towards everything that happens, is another characteristic element of emotional burnout. If we are talking about the fact that burnout occurs more often in social professions, then in this context, cynicism means:
- immoral, inhuman, indifferent attitude towards clients;
- transfer of relations from subject-subject to subject-object.
Suffice it to recall the angry women sitting in the windows of state service institutions, doctors, who all the time have no time and “they also gave a prescription, what else is needed.” These are all signs of burnout and, one might say, hatred of work.
Reduction of achievements
Reduction – simplification (from complex to simple). But it’s not so much about the decline in productivity, but about the personal and professional depreciation. The specialist does not feel his competence, but he feels unsuccessful in the professional field. This lowers self-esteem.
Modern consideration of the problem
Although it is still customary to consider burnout in the social sphere first, science has proven that this can happen in any profession, although human-to-human work remains the main risk group.
In the modern understanding, emotional burnout is interpreted as a professional crisis in any work activity. It is associated with the very activity and self-awareness of a person, and not interpersonal relationships within the framework of work.
Then the components of the burnup structure also change:
- exhaustion remains as such, but there is a greater risk of intrapersonal conflict and a crisis of the meaning of life;
- cynicism extends to the attitude towards the activity itself, its product (quality suffers);
- reduction is replaced by professional efficiency (labor performance is simplified).
Signs of burnout
Professional mental burnout makes itself felt through:
- the growing negative attitudes of a person towards work, himself and his colleagues (clients);
- decreased self-esteem (personal and professional);
- feelings of inadequacy;
- loss of values;
- formalities in relations with clients and colleagues;
- cruelty towards clients (colleagues), which first manifests itself in internal irritation, hostility, hidden aggression, but gradually comes out through immoral acts and open aggression.
The leading symptom is a feeling of exhaustion, which first makes itself felt by fatigue, deterioration of health (frequent illnesses or rises in temperature are possible), but gradually exhaustion causes anxiety and tension throughout the body and makes itself felt in several directions:
- somatics (weakness, falling immunity, sleep disturbances, stool disorders, headaches, other individual reactions);
- psyche (irritability and apathy, loss of desires, interests and needs, inability to rejoice);
- the highest level, or noetic (devaluation of oneself and the world, withdrawal from communication, labor, reality).
The long-term influence of these emotions causes a general suppressed emotional background. Then he already begins to dictate the rules of life (perception of the world and himself). A person is overtaken by an existential (mental) crisis and emptiness (frustration). A sense of meaninglessness grows like a weed: from work it creeps into everyday life, leisure, family, personal life.
As a result, if the condition is not corrected, the person will be lost and thrown overboard of life. It will exist, complexes, syndromes and neuroses will grow. Deviation is often added. In order not to bring the situation to such a peak, it is important to identify the combustion syndrome in time and start correcting it and further preventing it.
Joseph Greenberg developed a theory for the development of burnout based on the severity of symptoms. Only 5 stages:
- “Honeymoon”. As stressful as the job is, the person is driven by enthusiasm. But the longer a person works in such conditions, the lower his energy supply becomes. Gradually, interest and enthusiasm disappear.
- “Lack of fuel”. The first signs of exhaustion appear: apathy, fatigue, sleep disturbances. If there are no additional incentives and motives, then the person very soon completely loses interest in work. Working capacity and productivity decrease, discipline violations or non-fulfillment of duties are noted. If there are additional incentives, then the person will continue to work with the same productivity, but internally it will hit his well-being and health.
- “Chronic symptoms.” Irritability, anger, depression, fatigue, soreness are the consequences of workaholism and stressful work. Often a person at this stage feels like “in a cage” and suffers from a lack of time and energy.
- “A crisis”. Dissatisfaction with oneself and life increases (like other symptoms), health noticeably weakens, diseases appear that limit working capacity.
- “Breaking the wall”. In the life of a burner, many problems accumulate in various areas, and life-threatening diseases often occur. If a person deliberately cannot leave the work that is killing him, then the subconscious will make it so that he cannot work there physically.
T.I. Ronginskaya, who devoted a lot of research to the issue of burnout, identified 6 phases in the development of symptoms:
- Feeling tired and sleepless, preceded by excessive activity and a sense of being irreplaceable at work.
- Decrease in own participation in relationships with colleagues and clients with increased demands on others.
- The appearance of signs of depression or aggression.
- Destructive and noticeable changes in thinking (decreased concentration of attention and memory, rigidity of thinking, weakness of imagination), motivation (lack of initiative), emotions (avoidance and passivity).
- Any psychosomatic manifestations and addictions (addictions).
- Despair and disappointment in life, feeling of helplessness.
Psychologist Viktor Boyko considered symptoms in 3 stages: tension, resistance, exhaustion.
- At the stage of nervous tension, the experience of traumatic situations, dissatisfaction with oneself, the feeling of a “cage”, anxiety and depression are noted.
- At the stage of resistance, an inadequate selective emotional response is observed (from the outside it is perceived as disrespect), emotional and moral confusion, an expansion of the zone of emotional economy (a person is restrained in emotions not only at work, but also at home), reduction (avoidance of duties requiring high emotional dedication) …
- Exhaustion is manifested by a feeling of emotional deficit (a person himself does not feel able to empathize, enter into someone’s position), complete emotional indifference (neither positive nor negative events affect), weakening of mental and physical health, psychosomatics and depersonalization.
Transformation into a “robot” is the most dangerous and vivid symptom of burnout, it is also a sign of professional personality deformations. And this is not even a violation, but a protective mechanism of the psyche brought to the point of absurdity.
V.V. Boyko also developed a technique for diagnosing emotional burnout, similar to this classification of the process. But read more about this in the article “Professional emotional burnout – recommendations of a psychologist.”
Burnout types
4 types of burnout are distinguished by structure: one-factor, two-factor, three-factor, four-factor.
One-way burnout
The main factor is exhaustion (emotional, cognitive, physical). The rest of the components (depersonalization and reduction) are a consequence. This type of burnout affects all professions, not just social ones.
Two-way burnout
Exhaustion (affective factor) and depersonalization (setting factor) have an impact. This type is more typical of social professions, but not necessarily (if depersonalization occurs in relation to the person himself, and not others).
Three-factor burnout
All three factors (exhaustion, depersonalization, depreciation) have an impact. Exhaustion is manifested by a reduced emotional background, oversaturation with contacts or indifference. Depersonalization can manifest itself in two ways: dependence in relationships or negativism and cynicism. Devaluation affects either professional self-esteem or personal self-esteem. This type of burnout is common in social professions.
Four-way burnout
With this type, any factor (exhaustion, depersonalization, reduction) is divided by two more. For example, there is an immediate depreciation of the subject of labor and customers.
Epilogue
Mental burnout is a long-term process, at the beginning of which a person seeks to “squeeze all the juices out of himself,” to find new resources. But in fact, irritation, dissatisfaction, anxiety, frustration, depression only grow, and then exhaustion, depersonalization and reduction come.
Interestingly, not only do personality traits affect the development of burnout, but burnout also causes changes in personality. Due to the adaptive, but different from social norms, behavior of the burnout person, professional deformations arise. This is a variant of self-justification of the individual, the resolution of the existing contradiction. Professional deformations are the result of the restructuring of the inner world of the individual and the appearance of neoplasms.
Read more about deformities in the article “Professional personality deformities: what are they, factors, signs and prevention.” And about the causes of emotional burnout in the article “Professional emotional burnout: causes and factors.”
