Burnout Counseling

Burnout Counseling: Burnout is NOT Your Fault

While the signs of being burned out may present a bit differently from person to person, the cause of burnout is universal: work. In other words, burnout is a condition caused by chronic workplace stress. If you are seeking burnout treatment or burnout counseling, you are likely in a job that places you at risk for burnout. These are professional roles that often help others and are associated with taking care of others and feeling responsibility for their well-being. Although burnout is increasingly common and is found in all industries, the following professions are significantly impacted by burnout.

• Medicine, including physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, veterinarians

• Mental health, including social workers, marriage and family therapists, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists/psychiatric nurse practitioners

• Emergency response (aka first responders), including firefighters, law enforcement officers, paramedics, EMS workers

• Lawyers

• Tech, including programmers, engineers, IT professionals, salespeople, business development

• Hospitality, including managers, sommeliers, chefs

• Airline industry, including flight attendants, pilots, air traffic controllers

In addition, across industries, some roles require additional responsibilities that can increase stress and place a person at risk for burnout. These roles include managers, executives, supervisors, department heads and chiefs, to name just some examples. For many professionals, what starts as a welcome and well deserved promotion can become a hellish combination of overseeing too many projects and people, not enough support for delegating, and overworking.

For many people, in addition to work roles, there are other demanding roles in life, such as parenting and caregiving that contribute to the unrelenting stream of stress you experience day-to-day. For a more thorough article about burnout, I highly recommend you read this explanation by clinical psychologist Debbie Sorenson.

Signs That You Need Burnout Counseling

The World Health Organization describes burnout as a syndrome characterized by three factors:

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion

2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or negative or cynical feelings related to one's job

3. Reduced professional efficacy

Some common signs of burnout include:

• Irritability or moodiness

• Feeling helpless

• Frequent anger in the job or at your co-workers

• Missing deadlines

• Severe procrastination

• Not wanting to get out of bed in the mornings

• Trouble sleeping

• Fatigue

• Low energy

• Constant feeling of overwhelm

Why It’s Difficult to Admit You’re Burned Out

It’s hard for people to admit they are burned out because it is often accompanied by a sense of failure that they couldn’t overcome the problems or stressors of the job. It’s also normal for people to feel shame or embarrassment about being burned out because a common cultural assumption is that the person is to blame, rather than the job or the system in which the job exists. The truth is, burnout is not your fault. There are many factors that lead to burnout and in my experience, the individual experiencing burnout is doing the best they can to cope and survive, often in an organization or system that burdens workers with disproportionate responsibilities.