Big Think
3 signs that you’ve hit clinical burnout and should seek help | Laurie Santos
This interview is an episode from @The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the @JohnTempletonFoundation.
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In the last few decades, the concept of “burnout” has become ubiquitous in modern discourse around work and academia. However, there is a common misunderstanding about what burnout actually is. To many people, burnout is synonymous with being overworked and stressed.
But cognitive scientist and Yale professor Laurie Santos wants you to know that that’s not the case. Rather, burnout is a clinical syndrome with specific symptoms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or cynicism, and a sense of personal ineffectiveness. It can be caused by a heavy workload, but it is often due to a mismatch in values, unfairness, or a lack of intrinsic reward.
Properly understanding burnout — and knowing how to identify it — is crucial for employing practical steps to proactively avoid the syndrome. To do so, Santos suggests four simple, actionable steps that can help you not only spot burnout, but stop it in its tracks.
0:00 3 symptoms of clinical burnout
1:51 3 causes of burnout
3:39 Questions for assessing your burnout
4:59 How to treat burnout
Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/what-is-burnout/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
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About Laurie Santos:
Dr. Laurie Santos is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Yale University. Her research provides an interface between evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience, exploring the evolutionary origins of the human mind by comparing the cognitive abilities of human and non-human primates. Her experiments focus on non-human primates (in captivity and in the field), incorporating methodologies from cognitive development, animal learning psychology, and cognitive neuroscience.
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– These days, we talk
a lot about ‘burnout,' but as a psychologist,
I recognize that we have a lot of misconceptions
when it comes to burnout. We think burnout is anytime you're feeling a little bit overworked
or a little bit stressed or a little bit tired. But it turns out that burnout is a very special kind
of clinical syndrome that has a couple of
very particular symptoms. One of the symptoms we often think about is a sense of emotional exhaustion- but this is richer than just a
sense of physical exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion isn't
just about being tired: it's really about feeling like you cannot emotionally handle another
thing on your plate. If one thing comes on,
you know, that's it, the whole house of cards is gonna fall. Even when you get a really
great night rest or a week off, you're still feeling kind of emotionally tired and overloaded. That's the first symptom, the
sense of emotional exhaustion. The second symptom, which I
think is even more profound, is a sense of what's often called ‘depersonalization' or cynicism. You're just kind of on a short fuse with the people around you, whether that's the people
you're serving in your job, your clients or your patients,
or your other teammates. It's like everything they say
kind of irks you a little bit, and it feels like if
there's one more request, you're just gonna lose it and freak out. You're also very cynical
about people's intentions. You kind of feel like
they have bad intentions for the asks that are coming your way- that's a sense of depersonalization. But the third symptom is a sense of personal ineffectiveness. You just feel like even if you were doing your job perfectly, it wouldn't matter, or there are structural constraints that make it impossible to do
what you really value doing. So even if you're doing your job well, you feel like it kinda doesn't matter. It's not giving you the
same value it was before. So this is burnout: It's not just a sense
of stress or overwork. So I think it's important to distinguish between stress and burnout; we sometimes lump the two together, but burnout is a very particular
kind of clinical syndrome. We tend to think of burnout
as a modern phenomenon, but there's evidence that
something like burnout has been happening for a while, at least since the Industrial Revolution. But some of the best research on burnout happened in the 1980s and 1990s and was mostly done by
this fantastic researcher, Christina Maslach, who's talked
about some of the features that tend to lead to burnout. One of the features that
tends to lead to burnout is an increased workload or workload that really feels just too overwhelming. That isn't enough to lead
to burnout over time, but this can be an exacerbating feature. Another feature that
tends to lead to burnout is what Maslach calls a ‘values mismatch.' You get into your job thinking
you're doing something, but in practice, in the trenches, the job feels like something else. I'm speaking about burnout
right now as a scientist, but also as somebody who's
experienced this syndrome a little bit myself. I feel like I became a college professor and a head of college on campus because I wanted students to
have a fantastic experience. But then when COVID
hit, it just felt like, you know, what we were doing wasn't what I signed up for anymore; there was this mismatch. Another feature that can lead to burnout in an organization is
a sense of unfairness. This can also cause a certain
sense of community breakdown. When there's a sense that
things are a little bit unfair, maybe there's differences in compensation, that can lead to a sense of burnout. The final thing that's really important for burnout is your sense of reward. What leads us to kind of get flow and feel happy in our jobs is
a sense of intrinsic reward. When things become pushed more
towards the extrinsic reward, and also when those extrinsic rewards, especially when they start
feeling a little bit unfair, that can lead to a sense
of burnout over time. If you're wondering if
you're going through burnout, a few questions you can ask yourself involve those big symptoms
we just talked about. First, this sense of emotional exhaustion: Are you really, really exhausted, not just physically exhausted,
but emotionally exhausted? When you take a weekend off,
are you still as depleted when you go back on Monday morning? And does it really feel
like a form of exhaustion that's very emotional? It's not just that you're tired, but that you're feeling really depressed; emotionally, you're on
just a really short fuse. Are you experiencing changes in how you relate to people at your work, either the people that
you serve, your clients, your patients, or the
people that you work with? Are you embarrassed about
the length of your fuse? Do you feel like you're going through some compassion fatigue? That's a clear sense that you're experiencing
depersonalization. And is your sense of meaning going away in terms of what you're doing? Do you feel like your work has changed, that you simply can't
do a good job right now because of some of the structures
of what you're asked to do or the fairness in your own institution? If you're answering “yes”
to some of those questions, you may be on the verge of burnout, and it's important to address
that before it gets worse. So what if you're already feeling a little bit emotionally
exhausted, a little bit cynical, a little bit like your job
isn't effective as much anymore. This is the point when you need to think about treating burnout, and we can think about treatment as having an organizational
side and a personal side. Organizationally, I think
different industries need to pay a lot of attention to burnout- and one of the main ways to fix burnout is to make some changes
to people's workloads, to people's sense of values, and to the rewards that
people are getting. Those changes are really essential steps to treating burnout once it's there. But as an individual, you know, the best thing that you can do, aside from kind of trying to promote more of these structural changes at work, is to really take good care of yourself. And I mean that in particular, not just in terms of the kinds of things you do which matter, getting
more social connection, making sure you have some free time, but also to think about
how you're structuring your relationship with work. Often, we bring the best
of ourselves to work and leave the leftovers
for everything else, for our families, for leisure, and so on. If you're really putting too
much of your identity emphasis on work, that's the kind of
thing that can lead to burnout because those values feel like
they matter so much to you, it's all of your identity
that's wrapped up in this. When there's a mismatch,
it can hit you even harder. So to address my own burnout, I decided to take a sabbatical, but it was important that
I stayed very intentional about paying attention to my value systems during that sabbatical. I really tried to invest more in my relationships outside of work, so it wasn't just friendships at work that were making up my whole social life. I tried to reengage more with
other things that I value- hobbies, things as silly as, like, playing a little bit more Guitar Hero- but also engaging a little bit more with things like my health, like making sure I'm moving my body. It's really trying to
engage all the values and the things you care
about outside of work, so you can start to develop
an identity in that, and not just in what
you're doing for your job.
#signs #youve #hit #clinical #burnout #seek #Laurie #Santos
source
Do you feel burned out?
If you're reading this, I hope you have a great day. You deserve it.
I was a K-8 teacher responsible for over 100 children at any given moment while at work and my salary didn't even provide me with the means to eat 4 meals a week. Not only did I get burnout but I also experienced major trauma outside of work and it created a massive meltdown. I went on disability and to make things worse, my employer illegally terminated me for being on disability. Then to make it even worse my cat of nearly 20 years who was my rock passed away in my arms. It's been two years now and I'm still experiencing the symptoms of worthlessness, anger, rage, hopelessness, confusion, isolation, and more. My disability insurance doesn't even cover my rent, so I've used all my credit to pay bills and eat a few times a week when I can. I have a therapist but that doesn't help, so my question is… once someone is in this state of being, how do you get out of it? I have no interest in the things I once loved, no hope for the future (especially with how the world is going these days), and no funds to get out of this financial hole. What do I do?
Werkelijkheid vs realiteit. A life block as in writer's block, only existential.
I can't do anything, like literally anything, even as small thing as taking a walk or talk to someone, I can't work on my YouTube channel, finish and publish my app on play store or continue working on my personal project all I do is scroll all day and watch YouTube and twitch and I feel exhausted all day like I can't even hold a glass of water if anyone ever experienced this please do tell me if you ever recovered from this , this is just temporary right?
It's pretty tough being a designer. People keep telling me to suck it up when in reality the value of my services keeps going down. The same happens to freelance programmers. However, it's worse for designers as more often graphic designers aren't paid well, and have to resort to getting side hustles. We struggle to put a value on ourselves and our services, but the public response is ugly and cruel. Sometimes, due to bad deals, it can lead us to a rate of 5$ per hour due to compromise, when a gardener can earn 15$ per hour
So her solution is don't be poor. This video was an absolute waste of time
Depersonalization descriptor is wrong? I didn’t know it’s the same as irritability? Cynical is not depersonalization “Depersonalization is a psychological experience where an individual feels a sense of detachment or disconnection from themselves, as though they are observing their own thoughts, emotions, or body from an outside perspective. This can make the world seem unreal, actions feel mechanical, and personal identity feel distant or unfamiliar. Although it can be unsettling or distressing, depersonalization is often a response to stress, trauma, or anxiety and may occur temporarily or as part of a larger condition, such as depersonalization-derealization disorder.”
I align with all the symptoms.
Sad but true !
Are you embarrassed about the length of your fuse?
that was less than useless
it hit me every symptoms, but im in a country that no work no pay even the salary is low. i still have a debt need to pay. my workout from home decrease those stress. i anger my self in workout pushing hard and angry in every push up.
Useless info. 😂
nah this is not burnout. burnout is so much worse than what's described here.
Made my day
fucking sabbatical… must be nice
This is a complete over simplification. Watch with caution it’s superficial and only about work.
I really enjoy your content! Thank you!❤
I'm a physician…so
Psychedelics are just an exceptional mental health breakthrough. It's quite fascinating how effective they are against depression and anxiety. Saved my life.
I'm feeling all of this. I just want to sleep.
Where my fellow sales reps at? Slow month this month
Yes, I am burnt out.
Such a creative piece!
I'm burnt out have been off work for 4 months and feel no better…
Greedy capitalism
When you work every day for long time to just feed ur family u got exhausted I think the best of every thing to be moderate
What if your burnout is don’t feel a thing like you used to feel this aura this energy you felt in your younger years and every thing good just don’t touch you
This video offers a clear and concise explanation of burnout, a topic that's increasingly relevant in today's fast-paced world. The breakdown of the three core symptoms and the contributing factors is incredibly helpful for self-awareness. I particularly appreciate the practical questions provided to help viewers assess their own experiences, and the emphasis on both organizational changes and personal self-care strategies for recovery. A truly valuable resource for anyone looking to understand and address burnout.
I've been burned out for the past 6 years. Sheer discipline has kept me going. One day, I'll actually be able to enjoy myself. Until then, only forward.