Symptoms of Burnout

What does burnout feel like?

In describing burnout, Freudenberger (1974) noted physical, behavioural, and cognitive symptoms.

The physical symptoms of burnout that he noted include:

• Exhaustion
• Fatigue
• The inability to shake a lingering cold, or always feeling run-down
• Frequent headaches
• Sleeplessness
• Gastrointestinal problems

The behavioural symptoms of burnout include:

• A tendency to become irritated and frustrated
• Becoming tearful
• Not coping well with small pressures
• Shouting and screaming

And the cognitive symptoms of burnout include:

• “Excessively rigid, stubborn, and inflexible thinking” (Freudenberger, 1974)
• A cynical attitude
• “An indifference or a distant attitude towards your work” (Freudenberger, 1974)
• Spending an excessive number of hours working instead of taking time off but accomplishing less

Where does the term burnout come from and how long have we known about burnout?

In 1974, Herbert Freudenberger first described what we now know as burnout, after having observed the symptoms in himself and his colleagues. He described burnout as:

“Becoming exhausted by making demands on energy, strength, or resources…and becomes inoperative, to all intents and purposes.”

What this definition suggests is that when the demands placed on us, by others or by ourselves, are excessive we are likely to experience exhaustion to the point that we are unable to function properly.

Freudenberger is widely considered the founding father of the concept, however, it is important to note that he did not coin the term “burnout”. Instead, he deserved credit for systematically describing and analysing the mental states that he observed in himself and his colleagues, that his colleagues referred to as feeling “burnt out”.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) definition of burnout has changed from being classified as “problems related to life management difficulty” to a “syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. This comes as the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) updated its definition of Burnout in its latest update in 2022.

According to the ICD-11, Burnout is characterised by three dimensions:

• Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
• Increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
• A sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.

This is much more specific and descriptive than the previous definition of burnout, in which the only recognisable symptom was a “state of vital exhaustion”.

Furthermore, according to the ICD-11 update, burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and shouldn’t be applied to areas outside of work life. This means that the term burnout shouldn’t be applied to stress or exhaustion caused by phenomena such as parenting, travelling, or studying.

Why more of us can relate to feeling burnt out?

Burnout was a recognised syndrome long before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived on our shores, however, the pandemic did seem to coincide with a rise in burnout across a wide range of professions.

Why was this the case? Well, the demands placed on many employees increased, with the work we were doing throughout the pandemic being in isolation – away from our colleagues and teams – and because we had to quickly adapt to a new way of working – learning new technologies, grappling when said technologies failed us, and the loss of what was considered our “normal”.

Here are just some of the ways that working throughout the pandemic may have impacted the levels of burnout among employees:

• Increased expectations: hours were longer, with less separation between work-life and home-life, adapting to remote working, and staring at screens much more than usual.

• Distractions at home: pets, children, partners, neighbours, delivery drivers – and therefore feeling like we weren’t getting as much done (and then feeling guilty!)

• Higher expectations of ourselves: feeling like the “new normal” shouldn’t impact our level of productivity or output, despite having to grapple with everything in the above points.

• Increased “reachability”: due to working at a screen all day, we often were distracted by constant notifications, instant messages on Teams, Zoom meeting requests, and so on.

Who suffers from Burnout?

When Burnout was first investigated, it was mainly observed in the healthcare and human services sectors, i.e., doctors, nurses, counsellors, psychiatrists, and so on. However, it has since been recognised in many other professions including the police force, teachers, the military, managers, and students.

Essentially, anyone can develop symptoms of burnout under the right (or wrong) conditions. However, Freudenberger observed that some individuals are at a higher risk of developing burnout than others, noting that the “dedicated and the committed” are more likely to suffer from the syndrome (Freudenberger, 1974, p. 161).

However, it is important to note that Freudenberger’s account of burnout was based on his own experiences and observations in a particularly demanding work environment, rather than being backed by empirical studies.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, those in the healthcare and teaching professions have seen higher levels of burnout than previously.

What to do if you’re feeling burnt out?

The first step in tacking feelings of burnout is in recognising that something needs to change – realising that your current modus operandi isn’t sustainable.

Figuring out what exactly needs to change is the difficult part. However, it usually requires a two-pronged approach; changing something within your environment (external sources of stress) as well as changing something within yourself (internal sources of stress, coping strategies, and mindset).Here are some examples of both environmental and internal changes:

• Reducing the hours that you work or changing your work schedule (environmental change)
• Asking for more support at work (both an environmental change & an internal change, i.e., asking for help)
• Starting to say “no” to taking on more tasks (internal change)
• Learning to curb your people-pleasing (internal change)

It’s always worth having a discussion with your manager or Human Resources department if you are feeling burnt out at work to see what your options are.

How can you protect yourself from burnout?

As with many things, the best offence is a good defence, and so implementing preventative measures before you start to notice signs of burnout is always a good idea. Here are a few ideas that you might try:

• Improving the quantity and quality of your sleep.

• Loosening your perfectionistic standards.

• Asking for support when you need it, rather than waiting until it’s too late.

• Learning to say “no”.

• Recognising when you are being taken advantage of.

• Learning to delegate, rather than trying to do it all yourself.

• Recognising when your boundaries are being violated (both at work and at home).

• Learning to set boundaries, for example, protecting your home life while working from home by setting a strict cut-off time and sticking to it – closing your laptop, turning off your work phone, and engaging in activities that signal to your brain that your workday has finished, such as taking a shower or going for a run.

• Reducing the hours that you work or changing your work schedule (environmental change).

• Asking for more support at work (both an environmental change & an internal change, i.e., asking for help).

• Starting to say “no” to taking on more tasks (internal change).

• Learning to curb your people-pleasing (internal change).

What can organisations do to reduce burnout?

If you are a manager, company director, or management consultant, here are some ideas that you might want to implement in your organisation in order to protect your employees from burnout, thereby increasing staff mental health, job satisfaction, and productivity:

• Encourage a supportive culture where staff members can reach out for help.

• Ensure that your workers understand what is expected of them and that their role is clearly defined (one of the main sources of stress for my clients is the lack of clarity re-what is expected of them at work).

• Promote communication around unmanageable workloads, for example, during one-to-ones and check-ins.

• Encourage employees to use their annual leave days and to switch off from work at appropriate times.

• Demonstrate appreciation for your employees.

• Provide staff members with as much control over their own schedules as possible.

• Model healthy boundaries by refraining from sending emails or text messages outside of usual working hours.