Why Experiencing Burnout In Medicine Or Other Helping Fields Is A Bad Thing
Perhaps never before has the command “physician, heal thyself” felt more urgent. The modern health care system quite often neglects the “health” part. Workers in all helping fields feel overwhelmed, limited, and burnt out. The pressure-packed environments in which they work put undue stress on their mental and physical well-being.
The fallout from this reality impacts their own health, of course. It can also be very bad news for patients. Both quality of care and patient safety can become compromised. This, in turn, can lead to higher costs, worker shortages, and more disparities between particular demographics. Learning more about this crisis is a giant first step toward addressing it.
What is Burnout?
Burnout is a state or condition with some clear elements. In the case of work-related burnout, these can include:
Emotional and physical exhaustion
Low, depleted energy
Feeling cynical about and distanced from your job or career
Reduced work performance
Greater risk of mental health challenges like depression and anxiety
Workplace burnout can be caused by factors like low morale on the job, lack of support from management, not being consulted on decisions that involve you, feeling overworked, overwhelming scheduling, and a lack of camaraderie with co-workers.
Why Experiencing Burnout In Medicine Or Other Helping Fields Is A Bad Thing
Working with populations that are sick, injured, and suffering is a challenge for anyone. People in helping fields have a particular set of skills but they are humans. Thus, they are not immune from the inevitable consequences of bearing witness to so much pain and loss.
Complicating this reality, burnout among health practitioners is often undiagnosed. When in such fields, you get used to being stressed, exhausted, and mentally detached. You may tell yourself it just comes with the territory to work too many hours and become sleep-deprived. The unpredictable hours that throw off your biological rhythms are barely noticed anymore. Therefore, you don’t seek help. You also don’t react with alarm when co-workers display clear signs of distress.
Adding to this toxic brew is the specter of stigma. You see, those dedicated to helping others are not supposed to show any weakness. Asking for help or requesting a lightening of one’s load can make one feel self-conscious. Peer pressure kicks in and no one wants to be the first one to complain. Instead, they suffer in silence and communicate their distress through dark humor.
Again, the scenarios I just described defy the concept of “health” care. Professionals run themselves into the ground. As a result, patients suffer while the entire system loses efficacy.
You Can Help Prevent Burnout
A giant first step is to shift the climate from silence to dialogue. Work with your colleagues to start conversations about, for example, healthier work shifts and hours. Involve supervisors and management in these discussions as the full structure requires re-imagining.
Some self-help steps you can take:
Educate yourself about burnout and share what you learn
Safeguard your eating choices, sleep patterns, and commitment to exercise
Take breaks when needed
Use your days off to recover but also to have fun with activities that have nothing to do with work
Spend quality time with friends and family members who are not in helping fields
Ask for help
You’ve chosen a difficult but much-needed career. You deserve support and help. This is where therapy becomes indispensable. Connecting with a skilled mental health professional positions you to safely discuss what you’re going through. Your weekly sessions are where you can share openly and discover the new approaches you sorely need. I understand the ups and downs of a helping field and would love to help you along this path with depression therapy. Contact me soon to get started.
