Are you struggling with stress? Are you losing motivation to work? Are you feeling exhausted, blowing up at people or just wanting to bury your head in the sand? As Clinical Psychologists working with stress and resilience, we are often asked what are the top burnout symptoms to watch out for. In this blog demystify burnout so you can recognise when everyday stress turns into chronic burnout.
Recognising when you are at risk of burnout is not simple. Burnout emerges gradually as stress builds over several weeks or months. But fortunately there are some key signs and symptoms of burnout that you can watch out for. And we know that if you tackle these early you can prevent stress turning into burnout.
From Resilience to Burnout
Burnout exists at the opposite end of the resilience-burnout spectrum.
Resilence is a set of personal resources, skills and strategies that help you navigate challenges in your life. These resources are constantly evolving and developing in response to challenges. As you successfully overcome stressful events, you develop tools that will help you to cope with new challenges, build confidence and wellbeing and set you up to overcome future hurdles. Over time these experiences allow you to bounce back quickly when you encounter stressful situations.
However, when you experience chronic stress, ongoing challenges, high pressure and demand, and lack of time to recover you can find yourself in a crisis state characterised by profound emotional, physical and mental exhaustion.
At this point feelings of overwhelm undermine your normal coping mechanisms, reducing resilience and leading to feelings of hopelessness and despair. This can be paralysing. You are unable to think clearly, to focus or problem solve, leaving you stuck.
Top burnout symptoms to watch out for
As you progress through the stages from resilience to burnout there are some key signs and symptoms to watch out for. The sooner you can notice these the sooner you can find your way back to resilience.
1. Striving
Characterised by working harder and longer, this stage is a subtle precursor to burnout. It may feel like you are coping because you are putting in the hours. But in reality you are likely to be less productive, leading to a vicious circle of overwork. The more you work, the less effective you become. This will further raise your stress levels. The more stressed you become, the harder you work and the balance between work and life becomes increasingly blurred and you have less time to recover.
2. Questioning
As stress levels rise, you may find yourself questioning your abilities and grappling with self-doubt about whether you can cope. You may start neglecting your personal needs, withdrawing from friends and family, no longer making time for hobbies and interests. And along with this you are likely to notice a decline in your work performance.
3. Languishing
When you reach this stage, you will find yourself becoming increasingly negative. You might notice yourself being more cynical or experiencing emotional numbness. Things that used to be important to you, you may no longer care so much about. And your passion and motivation for work will wane. Languishing is often accompanied by a state of denial that you are struggling, despite others expressing concern about you.
4. Losing Control
As stress levels increase, you will start to notice that your normal coping mechanisms are not helping. This can feel confusing. In the past you were able to cope. But as your coping resources become more difficult to access they cease to be effective and your anxiety levels will increase. This further exacerbates stress and can lead to low mood and depression as feelings of overwhelm take hold and you feel increasingly out of control.
5. Crisis
The crisis point is when burnout reaches its peak. It is characterised by a state of complete emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion. At this point you will experience feelings of dread and a lack of interest and motivation, not only for work but also other activities you used to enjoy.
Your sleep will be disturbed and you may experience difficulty falling asleep and/or nocturnal waking.
You will notice changes in your appetite, either losing interest in food or overeating. And you will experience cognitive changes, difficulty concentrating, poor short-term memory and reduced ability to problem-solve.
Reaching Out
No matter where you find yourself on this continuum, taking action now can pull you back from the brink. A good starting point is to reach out to friends and family. Talking to people you trust and who care about you can help you to explore solutions to the challenges that are pushing your stress levels up.
Seeking professional guidance is a constructive way to approach burnout. With expert help you can make sense of your symptoms, understand what has triggered them and develop ways of coping to rebuild your mental health and wellbeing.
Your Return to Resilience
Building self-awareness and developing skills to overcome burnout will help you to return to resilience and enjoy life again.
Our resilience coaching sessions are uniquely designed to help!
During sessions with one of our professional resilience coaches, we will help you to:
Recognise your unique burnout indicators
Embrace evidence-based techniques to overcome burnout
Rebuild resilience
Return to the fulfilling life you cherish
With our help and support every step of the way, we will guide you on your journey back to health.
Get in touch today to find out more about how we can help.
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