by David J. Powell, Ph.D

Dr. David Powell

(This is a two part article. In this month’s issue we will examine what is burnout and whether you have “it” or not. Next month, we will explore how to overcome burnout).

Ever have the feeling you should have left work an hour ago? That between work, family, and other responsibilities, you have no time for yourself? There has to be more to life than work. Ever feel “when he leaves, all will be better. When census goes down, things will go so much more smoothly.” If so, you be burning out, or as I prefer to think of it, “rusting out.” Burnout happens when you put a pot on the stove and there is too much fire; you burn the bottom of the pot. Rust out happens we there is no more fire left; we forget why we are doing what we do. We lose our passion for work and clients. Since the common description of these feelings is “burn out” so in this article we will use that term.

What gives us satisfaction at work? For most of us, we get a feeling of self-worth, importance, identity and recognition. Work offers us friendships and a social milieu. At work we get to use our talents and aptitudes. And, when I am honest about it, there would be times when my personal life was in chaos and going to work was a respite from that chaos. So we get many things from work.

Work can also be a robber of energy as a result of constant competitive pressures to do more with less. Rapid change is a major characteristic of workplaces today, with overwhelming stress.

So what is burnout and how do you know if you have it? Burnout is characterized by signs of tension between us and coworkers, family and friends. We avoid others, and find ourselves numb to events in our lives that once brought us joy and happiness. We lose our passion, a sense of purpose, a vision that things will get better. We find we have lower creativity, perspective and a sense of humor. This can lead to feelings of despair, frustration, exhaustion, and loss of resilience. Despite this, we keep on going, after all, “I’m strong. I am a caregiver.” We find ourselves blaming others for our feelings. This can lead to decreased productivity, sick days, and absenteeism at work.

What influences burnout? Basically, it’s who we are: we are caregivers. We are accustomed to giving to others while taking little care of ourselves. In fact, often we do not even know how to take care of ourselves as we are so busy giving to others. Also, burnout can be triggered by our own histories of hardship, pain and trauma. We take on other’s pain but it silently reminds us of our own past.

So, here is a list of symptoms of burnout. Take a fearless inventory and ask yourself if you have had or currently have these symptoms.

2. Feeling helpless and hopeless. “Why am I even getting out of bed today?”
3. Feeling like you can never do enough. “I should be doing more.” We come to expect scarcity of resources and funding.
4. Hyper-vigilance, when all we can ever think about is work. “I never seem to be able to relax, even when I am on vacation. I feel like I am always ‘on.’”
5. Minimizing and trivializing others’ experiences. “You think you had a had day. Let me tell you about mine.”
6. Chronic exhaustion and physical ailments. “I cannot recall a time when I was not tired.”
7. Inability to listen to others. “I don’t want to hear any more hardship stories.”
8. Diminished creativity. “I don’t recall a time when I had an original thought. I am so bored with whatever I am doing.”
9. A sense of persecution, “I deserve better than what I am getting.”
10. Guilt. “I should not feel good going home from work, especially since so many of my clients have nothing. Some will be sleeping under a bridge tonight. How can I enjoy what I have when patients have so little?”
11. Angry and cynical. “I am angry with most people these days. Who cares anymore?”
12. Numb. “I have no ‘oh my’ moments any more, nothing that surprises me when I read a patient’s history.”
13. Inflated self-importance. “The place would fall apart if I were not here. How can I take a vacation? Who would fill in for me? They rely on me so much.”

Here is a self assessment to see if you have burnout.

• Are you highly achievement-oriented?
• Do you withdraw from offers of support?
• It is hard for you to delegate responsibilities?
• Do you prefer to work alone?
• Do you avoid discussing problems with others?
• Do you externalize blame?
• Is your personal identity bound up with your professional identity?
• Do you overload yourself – have trouble saying no?
• Do you lack positive & timely feedback outside of your work role?
• Do you abide by “don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t feel?”

Once you have taken the above self- assessment, it is important to determine how burned out you might be. In our next issue, we will discuss how to overcome compassion fatigue and burnout.

I will conclude this months’ edition with the words of the Welsh poet, David Whyte.

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired, the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognize its own.
There you can be sure you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb tonight.
The night will give you a horizon further than you can see.
You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness
To learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.