There is a lot of talk about burnout, it has become a word commonly used today, but as for many other illnesses, it is not certain that the public really knows its meaning.
Burnout is very real and it is ranked n° 2 in the diseases most often encountered in the workplace.
It mainly affects people with heavy responsibilities in their jobs and whose time is running out for the realization of their tasks, but not only those... The emotional and the meticulous, even normal workers can also be affected by this evil (because it is!). The process of exhaustion and loss of enthusiasm sets in gradually, accompanied by a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence.
Ethymology:
The expression in English literally meaning "to burn from within," to undermine or to ravage. The term was used for the first time in 1970, by an American psychologist by the name of Herbert Freudenberger, when referring to some of his patients, who could no longer carry out their work.
The meaning of the word, what does it tell us?
This is immense fatigue linked to both physical and mental exhaustion, but also intellectual exhaustion.
- The physique deteriorates because of an inability to curb a state close to exhaustion caused, most often, by a marked lack of sleep or by muscle and back pain. The patient suffers because his nights are restless, usually short, he or she cannot fall asleep or sleep peacefully. The patient does not manage to recharge his batteries during his rest periods, weekends, holidays and other days off.
- The psychological aspect plays an important role here. The individual in question loses his bearings, feels discredited by his superiors or even by his work associates. He feels incapable and useless, he may even develop a kind of aggression towards others. Because of this recurring phenomenon, he withdraws from the circuit of his work by refusing all contact with his fellow co-workers.
- The intellect is affected by more and more frequent memory loss and difficulty in analyzing any situation.
Occupational disease?
In our opinion, yes it is, even if it is not recognized as being such, despite the fact that many political groups have taken up the subject without much success.
What to do in such a case?
The symptoms described above must make you think of burnout and require having a meeting with a doctor, this seems to us the very first reaction to have in order to be taken care of.
One thing however, it is obvious that the longer one waits to take this step, the more the recovery will be long and the more difficult it could be.
