Do I have burnout?

Not feeling quite yourself? Exhausted and losing faith in your workplace? You might be wondering if you have burnout. 

It can be difficult to tell if you are developing burnout and you may find yourself questioning whether you are experiencing ordinary stress or struggling with burnout. One way of knowing the difference is by the length of time you have experienced your symptoms. If you feel stressed after work but positive by the weekend and have a better week the next week then it may just be typical stress. Burnout symptoms tend to last longer and be more difficult to manage. However, the ways of preventing typical stress are similar to preventing burnout and you may find our blog on this helpful.

Burnout appears to be increasingly common, especially in workplaces settings throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and for those people who have shifted quickly to working from home. If you think you may be struggling with burnout, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I feeling too exhausted to do my job properly?
• Am I feeling emotionally fatigued?
• Am I avoiding going into work or avoiding certain tasks or people once I’m there?
• Do I feel negative or cynical about my job, my organisation or the people I work with or for?
• Have I made more mistakes than usual? 
• Am I working slower than I ordinarily do?
• Do I dream of leaving my job or organisation?
• Have I been physically unwell more often over the recent months? Have I taken sickness leave?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then it may be worth considering if you are experiencing burnout. You may find it helpful to speak to a friend, family member, someone at work or a professional to help understand your difficulties. For more information you may also want to consider our blogs on burnout versus depression and the main symptoms of burnout Finally, if you work in a health and social care setting directly with clients who are traumatised it may be important to consider if you are struggling with burnout and / or compassion fatigue. Please see our previous blog to increase understanding of the difference.

How do I recover from burnout?

If you are experiencing burnout then it is important to gain support from managers or clinicians at work. You may also find our blog on recovering from burnout helpful. Your employers themselves may need support in supporting you and therefore Burnout UK can help. Burnout UK was founded by Dr Julie Hannan and provides online courses for people to overcome and prevent burnout. Courses are written by Psychologists and approved by the British Psychological Society. Courses help you identify stressors that you face in your work and home life that might be contributing to your burnout and reshape areas of your life which are depleting you by developing new strategies to support your recovery and strengthen your resilience and wellbeing for the future.