Emotional burnout is a psycho-emotional state in which a person feels emptiness, loss of strength, extreme fatigue from work and complete indifference to everything that surrounds him. Psychologists believe that the state of burnout is a protective reaction of the body to chronic fatigue and stress, manifested in the weakening of emotions.

The concept of burnout (in the original – burnout, which translates as “burn out” or “burn out completely”) was introduced into psychology by the American psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberger in 1974. He originally applied the term to chronic stress workers who were actively communicating with customers and implying increased responsibility.

The essence of the phenomenon

Burnout syndrome is called a kind of psychological defense mechanism against stress, which occurs mainly in the labor sphere. The first mention of “burnout” (literally – “burnout” in the translation from English.) Can be found in sources for 1974. Such a diagnosis was made to people who are forced to constantly be in an emotionally “loaded” atmosphere during work. As a result of such a load, they lost most of their physical and emotional energy, felt dissatisfaction with themselves and dissatisfaction, lost a sense of understanding and sympathy for those people whom they should help according to their duty.

Most often, this problem is faced by educators, health workers, business leaders, sales representatives, social workers, etc. The main reasons leading to emotional problems are routine, a difficult schedule, low wages, the desire to be the best in their profession, and other exhausting factors also take place.

How to recognize

Signs of emotional burnout should be studied in detail in order to recognize the problem in time and get rid of it faster. Burnout is often confused with stress, although its clinical manifestations are somewhat different.

The burnout pattern is represented by three groups of symptoms: physical, behavioral and psychological. In the first case, a person has:

Chronic fatigue syndrome
Headaches
Digestive system disorders
Weight fluctuations
Sleep disturbances
Nausea
Shortness of breath, etc.

With regard to psychological and behavioral symptoms, these include:

Loss of interest in their own work
Unmotivated worry and anxiety
Guilt
Boredom and apathy
Diffidence
Suspicion
Increased irritability
Distance from colleagues and loved ones
Feeling lonely, etc.

Symptoms

We tend to lose sight of the “first bells” and continue to move forward. hemoglobin so that it was difficult not only to go to work, but also to get out of bed, panic attacks began, which had never happened before.

There are studies showing that a person who is constantly “on fire” at work worsens memory and attention, accelerates the thinning of the prefrontal cerebral cortex, worsens the work of blood vessels, including coronary vessels that feed the heart.

So burnout is a serious matter, and now not only psychologists, but also doctors are dealing with this problem.

In order not to “burn out” at work, try to track the first symptoms:

Constant fatigue. You do not want to get up early in the morning and go to the office, and during the day work is not enjoyable and requires more and more effort from you.
Constant stress. You experience irritation or confusion from ordinary work situations, worry about every occasion, “wind up” yourself. Things are not going well, and this is not just one bad day, but a series of such nervous everyday life that more and more depletes you, which makes the stress even stronger.
Suddenly awakened “indifference”. This means that you do your duties in a detached, formal way, although earlier you were interested and liked to delve into new tasks.
Internal resistance. It can be expressed in the fact that the employee sabotages the instructions of the management, begins to argue on every occasion, and swears with colleagues. If you have reached this stage, then you urgently need to slow down, realize what is happening, and begin to get out of this state. Otherwise, dismissal will follow on the initiative of the management, which, among other things, will hit self-esteem. As a result, you will have to get yourself out of a state of depression. I think it’s better not to bring it to this.

These are not at all rosy prospects that the beginning of burnout promises us. And it doesn’t matter whether you love your job or not, whether you like the team or not. This problem can affect everyone.

Classification and stages of development of emotional burnout

In the scientific literature, you can find several theories describing the stages of emotional burnout. Despite the external differences, they are quite similar.

The most complete theory comes from Joseph Greenberg, where he describes a five-step model of burnout:

“Honeymoon”. At this stage, the employee is happy to get to work and is determined. But as the tasks become more complex and the workload increases, he loses interest in professional activity, work ceases to be enjoyable.
“Lack of fuel”. At the second stage, fatigue, detachment, sleep and appetite disturbances appear. Labor discipline is often violated – an employee is late, leaves early for no reason, there are frequent smoke breaks or tea drinking.
“Chronic symptoms.” Irritability, aggression appears, the employee becomes emaciated, ceases to monitor his appearance (this is especially noticeable in women who are more likely to burnout). The employee often complains of a chronic lack of time.
“A crisis”. It is at this stage that chronic diseases begin to develop, as a result of which the employee can partially, and in a severe case, completely lose his working capacity. A person’s self-esteem drops greatly and, in his opinion, the quality of life is significantly deteriorating.
“Breaking through the wall”. Physical and psychological problems are exacerbated, and there is a risk of developing life-threatening diseases [12].

There is also a dynamic model by B. Perlman and Heinz Hartman, which describes four stages of emotional burnout:

The first stage is the tension associated with additional efforts to adapt to situational work requirements.
The second stage is the intense experience of stress.
The third stage – reactions of three classes (physiological, affective-cognitive, behavioral) in individual variations.
The fourth stage is the experience of chronic stress. This stage is comparable to “decay of combustion in the absence of the required fuel” [6].

According to Mathias Burisch’s model, the development of burnout syndrome also goes through a number of stages. First, there are significant energy costs – a consequence of an extremely high positive attitude towards the performance of professional tasks. As the syndrome develops, fatigue appears, which gradually gives way to disappointment and a decrease in interest in work. It should be noted that emotional burnout develops with individual characteristics and is determined by differences in the emotional-motivational sphere, as well as the conditions in which professional activity takes place [15].

Burnout stages

Burnout is an ongoing process with several stages. Different authors offer their own classification options, covering different periods and at the same time being quite complex. If we generalize these models, then the burnout process can be conditionally divided into three stages:

Energy (tension). A person realizes that he is not satisfied with everything in his life and career, and the time has come to change something. He still has a reserve of energy, so it seems to him that he has a “second wind”. He begins to work with a vengeance, and for some time experiences a surge of strength, admiring his successes and wondering why he had not done this before. But over time, the enthusiasm dries up.
Stability (resistance). A burnout person goes to a kind of plateau. He works quite efficiently, more responsibly and in an organized manner than before. If earlier he allowed himself to be late at work, now he comes and goes on schedule, paying attention to the organization of the work process. It seems to him that he found a working rhythm, which he lacked all these years. Many at this stage allow themselves to drink a little in the evening.
Exhaustion (crisis). Gradually, a person runs out of emotional energy. He can no longer make “jerks”, his “second wind” does not open, there is no outburst of inspired enthusiasm. The thought “Leave me alone!” Is spinning in his head, and he no longer strives for anything.

As you can see, an important feature of burnout is that it often starts long before it starts to cause real inconvenience. And even bouts of excessive energy and uncontrollable enthusiasm can be the first alarm bells indicating that “the process has started.”

The reasons

Before deciding what to do, you need to understand what caused the “overheating” of our nervous system. The most common causes of burnout are:

Disruption of the balance between professional activity and other spheres of life. Work takes all the time, energy and thought. It seems that we do nothing else and do not think about anything. We have no communication outside of work, personal life, time for ourselves and just for idleness.
Violation of the regime of work and rest, constant lack of sleep, insomnia, work on weekends and until late at night. This impairs the cognitive functions of the brain, we become distracted and forgetful, unable to concentrate. As a result, we make mistakes, get angry, annoyed, or upset.
Too much responsibility, because of which the situation gets out of control, and the level of stress is constantly increasing.
There are too many responsibilities that leaders have entrusted to us, or we have taken on ourselves.
Unclear requirements.
Lack of personal motivation and a coherent system of rewards and punishments from the management. We do not understand why we are straining our forces, performing additional duties, participating in new projects of the company. In this case, it often happens that “kicks” are distributed regularly on business and without, but there are no rewards.
The general tense unstable situation in the country, layoffs of workers, fear of being left without wages and with a lot of loans.

Diagnostics

You can easily find out when you have the 3rd or 4th stage of emotional burnout, as your whole body will scream about it. But in the early stages, it is important to undergo diagnostics on time, you can do self-diagnostics in order to correct the daily routine, reactions to stress and, in general, take care of yourself.

I present to you several methods that will help you diagnose the CMEA level.

“Diagnostics of the level of emotional burnout” – V. Boyko’s test. Follow the link to take the test online. You have to answer 84 questions. Answer immediately without hesitation, so the likelihood of a truthful result increases. This is a well-known questionnaire that has been verified for reliability by large-scale studies.
“Maslach Burnout Questionnaire”. This technique has been tested in healthcare providers but is applicable to all professions. Its main focus is the measurement of indicators of professional burnout. This is a separate topic in psychology, which is studied using this particular questionnaire.
“Definition of mental burnout” A. Rukavishnikov. You have to answer 19 questions. The test shows what level your personality is at. It has a gradation into 3 scales, which show psychoemotional exhaustion, personal distance, professional motivation.
Vodopyanov’s test “Burnout Syndrome”. This test is good because it is adapted to different professions. There is a study of the psychoemotional state of a person on the following scales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, professional success.

These tests help to identify the problems of different professions: trade workers, managers, leaders, teachers. But I, for example, like Boyko’s technique, the test is suitable for all people. Even mothers on maternity leave can pass it if they feel that they are rolling. And, in principle, everyone who got burned out outside the profession.

Statistics show that women are more likely to burn out, as they have to communicate more at home and at work. Although, for example, the WHO in May 2019 defined CMEA as a syndrome that occurs in the workplace due to chronic stress. And the document says that such a condition is recognized as a disease only in the case of professional burnout.

To know when CMEA is considered a disease, and when – just a syndrome, it is important to understand what is included in the concept of “professional burnout”.

The person is exhausted, lack of energy, he is psychologically detached from his professional activities. There is cynicism, negativism. He manifests professional deformation – when a certain behavior at work is fixed as a characteristic of a person. This is clearly seen in teachers: the desire to teach everyone, to consider themselves the main thing in any company, etc.

Complications of burnout

It is widely believed among managers that the burnout syndrome is far-fetched, and the attitude towards employees often becomes consumer-oriented – “to completely surrender to work, without getting anything in return”. Employers do not always care about working conditions, material remuneration and do not want to spend money on education, psychological training and medical examinations. But if you ignore the symptoms of burnout, serious complications can arise. Complications at the physical and emotional levels are described above, such as low self-esteem, persistent fatigue, irritability, increased aggression, apathy, sleep and eating disorders, neurosis, addiction, depression, hypertension, chronic diseases may worsen, etc.

In advanced cases, emotional burnout leads to disability and a deterioration in the quality of life, and in rare cases to suicidal manifestations. There is a known connection between the degree of emotional burnout and suicidal tendencies among employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, UIN and psychiatrists. Burnout syndrome in combination with increasing mental stress leads to professional deformation, i.e., to psychological disorientation of the personality due to constant pressure from external and internal factors of professional activity. Without realizing his condition, a person transfers problems and emotions to the family. This causes quarrels, protracted conflicts that can lead to divorce. Leaders, in turn, often do not understand the reasons for the change in the behavior and emotional state of their employee, it is easier for them to fire and find a replacement, guided by the principle “there are no irreplaceable people”. Thus, “unnoticed” signs of emotional burnout lead to severe and, in extreme cases, irreversible consequences.

What to do

We’ll talk about how to avoid overload and not “burn out” a little later. Now let’s figure out how to cope with the problem if you notice those very alarming symptoms:

Realize and accept the fact that we are heading towards burnout. If you deny this and continue to work in the same way as before, then you can get sick or lose your job, or both.
Analyze your situation and understand what reason leads us to the loss of strength and energy. Further actions depend on this.
Gradually level the situation, if possible, eliminate negative factors.

Let’s see how you can work with the causes of burnout.

Restoring balance

When work does not even let go to the toilet, and this causes constant stress, then you need to put everything in its place. If you think I was joking about the toilet, then in vain. At one enterprise where I worked, we never parted with our phones for a minute. If the boss called, but one of the employees did not pick up the phone, he was expected to be fined. The leader was not interested in the reasons.

If you work on weekdays and weekends, are often late, are still solving production tasks at 12 o’clock in the morning, then it is not surprising that sooner or later burnout sets in. What to do in this situation:

try to return to your normal work schedule, for example, from 9 to 18 hours;
leaving the office or workshop, try to switch to other interesting things: go for a walk with your wife and children, go to a concert, call a friend, watch an interesting film;
define days off and strictly adhere to them: do not read work mail, do not make calls at work, do not open reports.

You won’t be able to implement this program right away, but start acting, taking small steps so that something other than work appears in your life. It so happens that we ourselves overload ourselves, but often this comes from the leaders.

If you cannot reduce the load on your own, discuss it with your superiors, it will not be worse, and you will definitely understand what to expect in the future. You may have to resort to drastic measures and resign. But try other methods first.

Slow down and exhale

You should not try to overcome yourself, strain and try to speed up the process of doing things, even very important ones. On the contrary, doctors are sure that in the presence of burnout syndrome, a person needs to slow down his pace. This does not mean that you should give up doing your work, you just need to reconsider your approach to organizing the working day, adding more rest to it. If you can’t manage to rebuild the regime, you should ask for an extra vacation or even take a sick leave for several weeks. This will allow you to analyze the situation, look at yourself from the outside and relax a little.

Planning with an analysis of the reasons will also be a great help. For example, if it is difficult to perform some tasks, it is worth specifying in a conversation with the authorities what exactly is required of the employee; if you are not happy with the size of the salary, you need to talk to the management about the increase or try to look for another employment option. Such measures will allow you to learn how to prioritize, make it possible to understand who can help, and will be an excellent help in avoiding new disruptions.

We clarify the area of our responsibility

For a responsible, quick-witted person, the range of responsibilities tends to expand to an unlimited amount. And if you are also a kind sympathetic friend who is ready to help colleagues with their difficulties, then you will definitely have work not for 8 hours, but for all 24 hours.

To solve this problem:

Sit down and write down your key responsibilities. These are important functions that you perform and for which you receive all or most of your salary.
Then write down the activities that you do along with your main responsibilities.
Think about what you can do with this heap of things. Perhaps you will see that this is not your area of responsibility, but another employee, or it turns out that the company has long been lacking one more staff unit.

When you have laid out everything on the shelves, discuss with the manager your area of responsibility and try to get rid of unnecessary work.

Also, for the time when you feel that you are tired, cannot cope with the load, do not have time to complete your tasks on time, learn to say “no”. Refuse colleagues to help where possible. It may not sound very good, but each has its own functions, and there is no need to shift them from a “sore head to a healthy one”.

I had a girl at work who constantly translated her tasks to others, they say, “I don’t know, I don’t know how.” The first time I helped her, then I stopped, because the person simply did not want to open Google and ask how to do this or that simple action. Why should I constantly waste my time and energy? Then my colleague walked home at 6 pm, and I sat until 8, finishing my work. This is somehow strange, you must agree.

Look, maybe your kindness is actually turning out to be a disservice to you and your colleagues. You are wasting your time, and they are not learning how to cope with their responsibilities or deliberately shift them to you.

We work with motivation

At my previous job, I was constantly rewarded with new positions and responsibilities, which did not affect wages in any way. At the same time, they did not forget to reprimand for my and others’ mistakes. That is, there was no incentive system, but there was as much negative as you like. Gradually, the state of affairs leveled off, although not completely.

But my colleague, when even minor responsibilities were added to her, always asked the question: “How will this affect my salary?” I think that this is what should be done, personal interests should not be in the last place. Both you as an employee and a company are interested in this. If there is the right system of motivation, then the results will be much higher. You will understand why and for what you are working.

Discuss with management a payment system that will best motivate you. Various bonuses and incentives also help to improve the working climate: an additional day off after the delivery of a complex project, a team trip to nature, an expansion of the social package. You can initiate such events at your work, raise morale for yourself and your colleagues.

We take care of ourselves

Whatever the reason may lead you to emotional exhaustion, you need to take care of yourself, start sleeping more, eat better, walk more and breathe fresh air, do exercises, do some kind of sport according to your strength and at will.

It seems that when you are tired, there is not enough time and opportunities for all this. But the support of physical strength will just relieve some of the fatigue, will provide new resources for dealing with stress. Just start taking small steps.

What else can help:

doing what you love, hobby;
new impressions and emotions;
fulfillment of desires that are not so difficult to fulfill, but this is constantly postponed;
new achievements in a business that is not directly related to work, for example, you learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube, which was previously an overwhelming task.

Small, at first glance, successes in some business raise self-esteem, improve our emotional well-being and motivate.

All of these actions should help you recover from the overload and return to your normal rhythm of life.

Psychologist’s advice

Massage. Considering that CMEA affects the human body and manifests itself primarily in muscle spasm, it is important to start removing it. There are many techniques on how to relieve stress carapace, but they are ineffective. Therefore, I recommend starting with a relaxing massage. Find a knowledgeable massage therapist and trust him with your “shell”!
Learn to relax. This sometimes requires willpower to break away from work, stress and decision-making. Both the body and the mind should rest. Try to turn off all gadgets, TV, computer 2 – 3 hours before bedtime. Keep track of the balance of physical and psychological stress, if you are not physically tired, then going to bed, you will not be able to fall asleep, being mentally tired.
Move actively. If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, you have to (no, you just have to! “Start moving. This is jogging, exercises, gym, etc. Movement and water are the best recovery after an intellectually difficult day for our body, especially for the brain, digestion and immunity.
Get enough sleep. I know from myself that chronic lack of sleep slows down the brain, the speed of physical reactions and reduces the ability to work. A person needs to sleep at least 6 hours a day, but for many this is not enough: 7 – 8 hours is the norm for an adult, and even more for a child, depending on age. Sleep well with no flashing lights, high pillow, etc.
Learn to communicate. Often we ourselves fall on the hook of burnout due to the fact that we do not know how to communicate, are not prepared for stress, do not know how to negotiate. This leads to emotional exhaustion. Therefore, learn to build relationships, communicate, negotiate, defend your interests. Learning correct verbal communication can help you cope with stress.
Try to be flexible. Flexibility is a skill that helps to adequately respond to changes in life. Our life is constantly changing, and it is quite difficult for conservative people to accept these changes. Therefore, there is a depletion of emotions in the struggle for an old life.
If there is a blockage at work, and you can no longer stand it, it’s time to take a vacation. But if that doesn’t work, no one is forcing you to work your hated job. By the way, you need to be able to quit without harming your nerves. You will find many useful tips in this article about competent dismissal.
Leisure activities or a change of scenery. This is what helps to reboot the emotional sphere, to be filled with new impressions, exciting events. This is a great distraction and reveals the internal mechanisms of mental recovery.
Don’t forget about yourself during your work day. Try to take breaks, go outside sometimes, reboot your brain, especially when a lot of information comes to you.
Learn to say no. This is great for protecting your personal boundaries, which also protects you from burnout. But this must be done tactfully so as not to conflict. By the way, conflicts also take energy. And you will learn how to resolve conflicts in this article.
Establish a ritual for dumping work clothes. Psychologically, taking off the work clothes of an office worker or teacher, you relieve yourself of all the workload of the working day, problems and unsolved tasks.

Exercises

Many psychologists agree that the best exercises for overcoming this syndrome are elements of yoga, auto-training and training, where all problems are worked out, the attitude towards them changes, and the search for and restoration of internal resources takes place. Here are some exercises:

Breathing exercises – listen to your breathing, start breathing deeply, hold your breath, then exhale for a count of 5, do this up to 20 times;
Relaxation – lie on the floor with your arms and legs outstretched, lie down for 1 – 2 minutes, with your eyes closed, imagine the room you are in, listen to your breathing, breathe slowly, alternately strain your limbs, shake your head;
Gradual relaxation of all parts of the body, as well as self-massage techniques, will help to get rid of the CMEA, start massaging the limbs from the bottom up – this will help the lymph to remove toxins from the body, which is also useful in the process of cleansing the body and psyche.

Books and videos

The scientific novelty of the problem prompted many scientists to investigate the CMEA topic. This makes it possible to study new ways of dealing with this condition, since getting out of it is important not only for adults, but also for schoolchildren, students, family members involved in various projects and circles. Below is a list of literature, books that will help you study the CMEA and find recommendations for overcoming it.

Deborah Zack “Unambiguous”.
Ched-Meng Tan “Joy from within”.
Tal Ben Shahar “The Perfectionist Paradox”.
L. Petranovskaya “Lecture” I Can’t Any More “.
A.V. Mishchenko “Personal determinants of emotional burnout in sports coaches”.
Yu. Ayupova “No burnout”.
J. Greenberg “Stress Management”.

In addition to books, you can watch great videos that will help you understand your condition and learn how to overcome and avoid it in the future. For example, Evgenia Streletskaya explains this state well in her lecture “Emotional burnout. Treatment by stages. Sabbatical “.

How to warn

Prevention is also an excellent solution. It is worth remembering that this syndrome usually occurs against the background of physical and mental exhaustion of a person. And this means that one should approach prevention issues in a comprehensive manner. An excellent solution would be a balanced diet with a minimum of fat, including a large amount of vitamins, fiber and minerals. It is also worth adding more physical activity and proper sleep to your life. Of course, you also need to observe the daily routine.

From the point of view of psychological protection, you should arrange for yourself a day off once a week, when you can do whatever you really want. In addition, meditation, auto-training and aromatherapy will be an excellent assistant in restoring mental balance.

Conclusion

Burnout is a common problem that almost all of us face sooner or later. It is important to understand that this condition is not so harmless. It spoils life greatly, and it is extremely difficult to get rid of it. However, it affects all aspects of our life, including even physical health. Therefore, it is very important not to allow burnout, and if it does happen, to get rid of it as quickly as possible using the exercises that we reviewed today.

Sources used and useful links on the topic: https://dnevnik-znaniy.ru/psixologiya/emocionalnoe-vygoranie-10-glavnyx-simptomov.html https://aif.ru/health/psychologic/sgorel_na_rabote_chem_opasen_sindrann_emociya . ru / udalennaya-rabota-i-frilans / vygoranie-na-rabote-priznaki-i-posledstviya.html https://ProBolezny.ru/emocionalnoe-vygoranie/ https://levelself.ru/duxovnost/chto-takoe-emocionalnoe -vygoranie.html

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