When we talk about Burnout, we refer to the mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion that results from not being able to disconnect from our work.
Psychologist Cristina Maslach, who is a leading expert on burnout syndrome, defines it as an inadequate way of dealing with chronic stress. In addition to personal burnout, its most characteristic features are the depersonalization (negative and cynical attitudes towards work) and the decline in personal performance.
Experiencing this burnout involves a series of very varied and personal symptoms. For example, feelings of failure, irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating at work, headaches, and general fatigue. Evidently, these manifestations cause suffering both to the person suffering from them and to their immediate surroundings (partner, friends, and family). If we take up Sigmund Freud's opinion, who said that one can understand Mental health as the ability to love and work, we see the great importance of addressing this issue in psychotherapy.
I invite you to listen to a podcast about burnout and workplace boundaries…
Regarding burnout, especially focused on teleworking so common today, we talked in the Podcast: Without human rights, is there mental health? which I was invited to participate in by the College of Psychologists of the Province of Córdoba, who do a great job of psychological dissemination.
You can listen to the interview by clicking here.
And to close this post, I want to remind you that it's okay to disconnect. Just as it is okay to rest. In the words of author Emily Nagoski in her book "Burnout":
Rest doesn't just mean sleep, although of course sleep is essential. Rest also includes shifting from one type of activity to another. Mental energy, like stress, has a cycle it goes through, an oscillation from on-task to processing and back again to on-task. The idea that you can use "grit" or "self-control" to stay focused and productive every minute of every day is not just incorrect, it's manipulative, and it's potentially damaging to your brain.
If anything we talk about on the podcast resonates with you, I'd like to remind you that the psychotherapy It is a method that can guide and accompany you to set new limits.
