Psychotherapy Trivia #6.1: The burnout pandemic

🔥Did you know that the burnout syndrome is a popular theme for many Hollywood movies, although the term itself only started to be used in the 1970s?

🍿Have you seen the Falling Down movie? It harshly describes the origin, course and consequences of the burnout syndrome. 🚗 We probably all remember the scene when Michael Douglas is stuck in an endless traffic jam with an annoying fly attacking him in the car or when he wants to order his breakfast at McDonald's a minute after the designated „proper breakfasttime“. 🍳🥓

🎥 However, life is not a movie, and the statistics around burnout syndrome, as for example shown in a 2024 report from the UK, are shocking:

• 43% of people from around 100 countries experienced workplace burnout in 2020. This figure rose from 39% in 2019. [2]

• Burnout syndrome accounts for 8% of all occupational illness cases (a disease caused by exposure at work to a risk factor). [3]

• 33% of employees say they are less focused at work as a result of burnout, while 31% report losing interest in work, and 21% report increased procrastination. [4]

• Toxic workplace behaviours and traits (such as unapproachable leaders, micromanaging and lack of transparency) are a big indicator of burnout in the workplace. [5]

• At least 79% of UK employees experience burnout, with around 35% reporting extreme or high levels of burnout. [6,7]

• According to a survey we conducted with CharlieHR, an alarming 82% of employees in the tech industry feel close to burnout. [6]

➡️ https://www.spill.chat/mental-health-statistics/workplace-burnout-statistics

🧠 Burn out syndrome manifests itself with symptoms like an inability to handle challenging situations of everyday life, limitation of social contacts, insomnia, repeated illnesess or an impossibility of regeneration after a weekend or holiday. 🏝️

😣 Burn out syndrome is a direct consequence of chronic stress and a long-term disbalance between activity and relaxation. 🏃‍♂️🍹 During these burnout phases, you have an extraordinarily large expense in the field of emotions and energy, but this does not bring the rewards and effect in the field of positive feelings, appreciation of others, or income.

🤷‍♀️ It’s difficult to pinpoint where burnout syndrome comes from, but there are contributing factors like: subjective framing of a challenging situation (divorce, redundancy, or other stressful life situations), coping (your personal ability to handle the given situation), personality structure (for example the behavioral patterns learned in childhood), intensity, frequency and length of a given stress factor in your life. 🌀

🛑 Burn out syndrome is not depression although the symptoms in the advanced stages of the burn out syndrome are similar.

Do you suffer with any symptoms described above? I am happy to help with that, please feel free to schedule a free 30-minute consultation with me by filling in the form in the footer of the page

📚 Some more interesting information about the sociocultural history of burnout: https://www.wilmarschaufeli.nl/publications/Schaufeli/481.pdf

#butnoutsyndrome, #psychotherapy, #depresion, #chronicstress, #coping, #framing