Burnout depends upon the individual …
Typically, people who burn out not only feel disillusioned with their work, they feel as though their whole life has lost its meaning.
Burnout is never a secret you can keep from your colleagues. If you are burning out whether you know it or not, others around you are quite aware of it. Becoming aware that you are burning out and identifying the major causes for it are the first steps towards effective coping.
The timing manifestations, and consequences of burnout depend upon the individual and on their working environment. In every occupation there are people who succumb faster than others. Some people burnout shortly after entering a new job, some within a year. These people include, nurses, child welfare practitioners, teachers, social workers, dentists, lawyer’s, and doctors.
The next most important step …
This is to change the focus from “What’s wrong with me?” to “What can I do about this situation?”
One of the interesting things found in workshop studies relating to Career Burnout is when participants were asked to write down the major sources of stress and dissatisfaction, they found in their jobs. They were delighted to find their colleagues were experiencing the same dissatisfaction despite the brave faces they had been putting on at work.
This relieved many of the sufferers who had felt alone for years having to experience the lonely and agonising feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
From here the participants could see that this was a situational problem, not a problem of their own individual failure.
A situational problem?
Social psychologists Elliot Pines and Ayala Aronson (1988) in their research into this syndrome studied dentists who suffered this high rate of burnout.
This is a surprise to most of us as dentistry seems a relatively easy, lucrative, non-stressful profession. What causes dentists to burn out?
There are several factors and the most salient one is, dentists are highly skilled, highly trained professionals who almost always perform in a situation where there is no one around to show appreciation for their work. Neither their patients nor their co-workers are in a good position to express meaningful appreciation.
Very few dentist’s collaborate with other dentists. While their staff serves a vital and important function there is really no one who has the expertise or professionalism to comment on high quality work that is performed.
Certainly, the patients may be grateful however most leave in a high state of anxiety, concerned with getting out of the surgery with as little pain as possible!
While dentists are aware of their patient’s anxieties, the experience of being feared and even disliked is nevertheless unpleasant. Moreover, most patients are not in a frame of mind to concern themselves too much about a dentist’s need for appreciation, respect, or approval.
Most dentists report that any feedback regarding their work involves a complaint!
The dentist performs day after day, week after week, pouring in maximum effort for minimal appreciation which becomes extremely taxing and causes erosion of the spirit known as burnout. (contd. part 3)
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