In the past few years, the burnout syndrome has come more into general focus due to its increasing presence in the media and has almost received the stigma of a kind of widespread disease. In this article we explain what exactly this syndrome is and what you can actively do about it.
Explanation of terms and symptoms
The term was first mentioned
Burnout in 1974 by the psychoanalyst Herbert Freudenberger. According to Freudenberger physical and emotional inability to cope with everyday life. The World Health Organization (WHO) has mentioned burnout syndrome in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as follows:
Classification according to ICD-10:
Problems related to difficulties in coping with life, including "burnout
The burnout syndrome takes a large part of the work-related mental illnesses, which according to Statista 17.account for 1% of all incapacity for work and cause an average of 38.1 days of absence (another mental illness, namely boreout syndrome, is discussed in the following article on our blog)
Herbert Freudenberger, together with his colleague Gail North, has defined twelve phases in the course of the burnout syndrome. These all point to a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. Below are a few basic examples of these stages, though the listing is in no order:
– Extreme striving for performance in order to meet particularly high expectations
– Overwork with neglect of personal needs and social contacts
– Denial of arising problems, lowering of the tolerance level
– Depression with symptoms such as indifference, hopelessness, exhaustion and lack of perspective
Emergence: The beginning is inconspicuous
When stresses and strains in everyday life (work, leisure time, private life, etc.) increase, the feeling of burnout becomes more pronounced.) constantly increase, free spaces for stress reduction are reduced. Prere to perform, the social environment or the organization of work, for example, exert a psychological strain. If the body does not have enough time to reduce this stress, it can also have a physical effect: loss of motivation, irritability, nervousness, lack of concentration, excessive demands and/or sleep disturbances can occur. So the body reacts to psychological prere. The situation becomes psychosomatic.
Risk groups are rare
The burnout syndrome cannot be attributed to a specific occupation or group of people. People of all hierarchical levels and areas of responsibility are affected. Psychologists Daniel Beal and John Trougakos (both University of Toronto) and Christine Jackson of Purdue University found in a study (2011) that the following occupational groups were particularly at risk:
Prevention of the burnout syndrome?
We have Five tips for preventing burnout compiled for you:
1) Reflect on whether both external and your own expectations are realistic in the long term. Create a balance to the tension. Plan this firmly.
3) Review your own work organization, planning of working hours and definition of precise targets.
4) Try to get bad working atmosphere or quarrel out of the way before it occupies you longer.
Character traits such as perfectionism can drive ambition, increase one's own prere to succeed and thus promote burnout. You should be aware of these.
In general, the prevention of burnout should be a matter of concern for both employees and employers. Employers in particular are required by legislation in the Occupational Health and Safety Act to continuously reduce psychological stress. Therefore, a clear transparency on this topic should. Be the goal of a joint cooperation to promote health in the company.
If you have further questions about the topic or the implementation of the individual measures, please feel free to inform yourself further on our website or contact us directly. We are happy to support you in all areas of occupational health.
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Further reading:
Freudenberger, H. J. (1974): Staff Burn-Out, JOURNAL OF SOCIAL IES Volume 30, New York.
Freudenberger, H. J. North, G. (1992): Burn-out in women. About the feeling of being burned out, Wolfgang Kruger Verlag, Paperback.