Counselling for Burnout
Find out more about what causes burnout and how to treat it
What is Burnout Counselling?
What does Burnout feel like and how You can get Support?
What is Burnout?
The term “burnout” describes a state of deep emotional, physical and mental exhaustion. Burnout is associated with risk. Stress that persists over a long period of time without sufficient recovery carries a risk of mental and physical complications. These include depression, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders and heart diseases. Overload and lasting stress significantly increase the risk of burnout.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of Burnout?
The signs of burnout occur on three different levels: body, mind and intellectual performance. Sufferers notice the physical symptoms first: for example, they have trouble sleeping because their mind is racing or they experience palpitations. They often turn a blind eye to these warning signs. This is followed by (emotional) exhaustion – and eventually breakdown.
Physical symptoms of burnout
Chronic stress puts the body in a permanent state of alert. The physical symptoms of burnout vary greatly. Common physical complaints include:
- Persistent tiredness and exhaustion: there is no noticeable recovery, even after periods of rest.
- Sleep disorders: burnout usually goes hand in hand with problems falling asleep and staying asleep. Sleep deprivation further exacerbates the sense of exhaustion.
- Stomach pains: the digestive system is also vulnerable to the chronic stress of burnout. This leads to nausea or abdominal cramps.
- Heart complaints: chronic stress raises your blood pressure and speeds up your heartbeat. Possible symptoms include a feeling of tightness in the, or chest pains.
- Changes in appetite and weight: chronic burnout influences your metabolism and eating habits. As a result, it is not uncommon to lose or gain weight.
- Weakened immune system: the body reacts to by becoming more susceptible to infections.
Psychological symptoms of burnout
In addition to physical complaints, burnout also manifests itself in symptoms relating to mental exhaustion. These usually depend on the stage of the condition. Frequently reported mental health complaints include:
- Despondency: sufferers feel hollow and permanently overwhelmed. Joy and motivation are increasingly hard to find.
- Irritability and emotional instability: moods can fluctuate enormously. Even minor stresses can trigger irritation or outbursts of anger.
- Anxiety and panic: burnout can spark anxiety. Panic attacks can also occur in tandem with burnout.
- Social withdrawal: sufferers pull away from family, friends and colleagues. Social contact is perceived as a burden.
- De-personalisation: people with advanced burnout report a sense of depersonalisation. They feel detached from their own bodies or have the feeling their surroundings are not real.
- Changes in sexuality: chronic stress influences sexual desire and sexual function. Both men and women may experience a loss of libido when they’re burnt out.
- Addictive behaviour: some people use alcohol, tobacco or medication to a greater extent. This is a strategy for coping with internal tension.
Cognitive symptoms of burnout
Burnout also impairs intellectual performance. Sufferers increasingly struggle with day-to-day thought processes. The longer the burnout lasts, the worse the cognitive impairment becomes. It affects various areas:
- Decreased performance: despite huge effort, performance declines. This in turn reduces confidence in your own abilities.
- Poor concentration: people suffering from burnout are easily distracted and quickly lose track of their tasks. Focused work becomes increasingly difficult.
- Forgetfulness: appointments, names and plans are harder to remember than usual.
- Issues with decision-making: even simple decisions take a disproportionate amount of energy. Sufferers put off making decisions or avoid them altogether.
- Reduced mental flexibility: your thought processes become restricted. You may struggle to come up with creative solutions and switch between different tasks.
- Changes to reactions and behaviour: relatives occasionally notice a personality change in burnout sufferers. Their responses may change – they may become noticeably more indifferent, cynical or irritable – and sometimes they can’t even recognise themselves.
Difference in Burnout symptoms between Women and Men
Burnout symptoms generally affect all genders equally. However, there are differences. The first signs of burnout usually appear earlier in women, because women tend to be more responsive to mental stress and seek help. In men, the symptoms often go undetected for longer. That said, lower stress levels for men do not necessarily mean that they experience less stress.
How Burnout progresses
Burnout does not occur suddenly. It develops gradually over weeks and months. In many cases, sufferers turn a blind eye to the initial warning signs. Complaints only consolidate as time goes on. The process can be divided into three phases:
1. Increased stress: Everyday life is characterised by a sense of nervousness, irritability and difficulty concentrating. Sufferers overreact (by working longer) and display initial vegetative complaints. If the symptoms of burnout are caught during this phase, they can completely subside with a prolonged recovery.
2. Mild to moderate burnout: The exhaustion is sustained and the ability to recover decreases significantly. Sufferers become socially withdrawn, lose their motivation and experience persistent sleep issues and concentration problems.
3. Severe burnout with clinical depression: Exhaustion reaches a level that severely restricts sufferers’ day-to-day lives. They struggle to feel joy or interest, and experience pronounced cognitive impairment and a sense of hopelessness. At this stage, burnout often leads to an emotional breakdown, with symptoms resembling clinical depression. Some people may experience suicidal thoughts.
The stages are not always linear. They may be reversed, overlapping or skipped entirely.
Burnout or depression?
The symptoms of depression and burnout are very similar. Both entail exhaustion, listlessness, sleep problems and social withdrawal. The difference between burnout and depression lies in the source of the stress. Burnout is directly related to chronic overexertion. Depression, on the other hand, affects all areas of life and can also occur without recognisable external triggers. However, untreated burnout often turns into depression. Experts refer to this as “exhaustion depression”, and it is largely similar to severe burnout in its symptoms. A medical or psychotherapeutic assessment is recommended for precise clarification.
What are the Causes of Burnout?
In many cases, work-related stress is not the sole cause of burnout. Instead it comes from the interaction of multiple factors over an extended period of time. Experts draw a distinction between external pressures – in the workplace or family environment, for instance – and personal risk factors that increase susceptibility to burnout.
Occupational and social stressors
Burnout in the workplace is particularly common where unfavourable working conditions persist for an extended period of time. Key external stressors include:
- Time pressure and demanding work requirements: tight deadlines, increasing workload and constant availability put workers under constant pressure. Working under unrelentingly high pressure to perform depletes your reserves in the long run.
- Lack of appreciation and scope for change: without recognition for your performance, your motivation wanes. At the same time, without the scope for change, feelings of powerless and overload can increase.
- Conflict and bullying: a stressful working environment is one of the strongest risk factors. Being bullied at work and recurring conflicts within your team or with line managers significantly increase your level of emotional stress.
- Lack of recovery and boundaries: when the line between professional and personal life blurs, the body doesn’t have enough time to regenerate.
- Strain at home or in the family: relationship stress or care responsibilities further exacerbate existing work-related pressures.
In addition to external stressors, individual characteristics and patterns of behaviour also influence your susceptibility to burnout. Certain personality traits leave you more likely to slip into a spiral of exhaustion. Relevant personal risk factors include:
- Perfectionism: the constant drive for error-free output is a permanent source of internal pressure. A perfectionist’s standards are often far above what is realistically achievable.
- Low self-esteem: people with little confidence in their own abilities are quicker to see demands as a threat. They have a tendency to constantly compare themselves and devalue their own performance. The feeling of a lack of appreciation reinforces this perception.
- Strong focus on others: the needs of others consistently take precedence over your own. In the long term, your own recovery falls by the wayside. This pattern is particularly common in social and care-related professions.
- Lack of coping strategies: people with low levels of resilience and few effective stress management strategies reach their limit more quickly when they come under prolonged pressure.
- Strong sense of empathy: people with a tendency towards burnout can sense when their colleagues are under pressure and shoulder their burdens, too.
Parental Burnout
Burnout doesn’t just happen at work. The long-term stress of childcare, maintaining a household or caring for family members can also lead to advanced exhaustion. Uneven distribution may explain why mothers in particular are often affected by “mum burnout”. The emotional exhaustion associated with burnout in a family setting is similar to work-related burnout. Sufferers feel hollow, listless and increasingly alienated from their daily lives.
If you are a parent who feels permanently exhausted, get in touch with me.
What to do if you are burnt out
Treatments for burnout depends on the individual causes and the severity of the complaints. The sooner you do something about it, the better your chance of recovery. Early intervention shortens the recovery process and reduces the risk of complications.
Consulting your GP is an important first step. They will talk to you about the stressful situation you are currently in and discuss possible ways to recover from burnout. In many cases, sick leave provides necessary distance from the stressful situation. If necessary, they can refer you to a specialist. Depending on the severity of the condition, approaches range from self-guided strategies for everyday use to outpatient psychotherapy and inpatient treatment in specialist clinics.
Therapy for Burnout
Therapy plays a key role in burnout treatment. The methods depend on the individual situation. Emotional-focused therapy can help client’s to identify stressful thought patterns and develop new coping strategies. Treatment can incorporates elements of body therapy and relaxation exercises. In addition to therapy, it helps professional reorientation, lifestyle adjustment and bolstering of personal resources.
How long does it take to Recover from Burnout?
The duration of burnout treatment varies greatly from person to person. It is governed by the severity of the condition, the patient’s personal situation and the time of the first treatment. Working through burnout will hamper the necessary recovery phase. It also takes time for your brain to regenerate after burnout, particularly capacities for concentration and memory.
For the return to working life, gradual reintegration with an adjusted workload is recommended. Slowly increase your endurance and demands bit by bit. Burnout leaves many sufferers less resilient than they were before. This is normal and not a sign of failure. Structural changes to your day-to-day working life and at home will reduce the risk of relapse and contribute to a stable recovery.
Burnout in people with autism and AuDHD
People with autism oe AuDHD are at increased risk of neurodivergent burnout. It reduced tolerance to stress, sensory overload and difficulties with self-regulation contribute to exhaustion. Typical autism and AuDHD-related burnout symptoms such as a loss of concentration, emotional overreaction and forgetfulness are significantly worsened by chronic stress. This is exacerbated by the energy required for masking – the constant adaptation to neurotypical expectations.
The symptoms of autistic burnout differ from those of traditional, work-related burnout. Sufferers experience chronic exhaustion, lower capabilities and a greatly reduced tolerance for irritation. The treatment of autistic burnout does not revolve around traditional stress management. Instead, the focus is on reducing the pressure to adapt and providing support that recognises neurodivergence as part of the individual’s personality.
Take the time you need and don’t be afraid to seek support from me.