Burnout
Prevention at DynaMIND

Successful stress management is a challenge in everyday working life. Many people know stress and lack of time, especially in times of high workload. Stress by itself does not have to be a bad thing: it can be motivating and challenging in the beginning. However, in the case of chronic excessive demands, physical illnesses accumulate and burnout occurs. Although more and more cases of burnout have been reported in German companies in recent years, only a few companies have established a successful burnout prevention practice. Thereby the symptoms of a burnout disease are often quite obvious and an early diagnostics makes sense. Especially for successful people it is often not easy to deal with their own exhaustion. At this point professional support is needed. At dynaMIND you will learn in a personal coaching session how to find a way out of exhaustion and how to maintain your health in the long term. Both body as well as the psyche benefit from this in the long term.  

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What is burnout and how do you recognize it?

Burnout seems to have become a fashion diagnosis. But what exactly is behind the concept of being burned out? Is it exhaustion? Is it a socially accepted form of depression? These and other questions are being discussed in research. Anyone who takes a closer look at the realities knows: we can no longer avoid the issue of burnout in the working world.

Burnout symptoms

People often fall into a burnout state when they experience their professional burden in the work context as no longer manageable. A constant experience of excessive demands leads to the psyche reacting with a reduction of motivation, performance and finally also with a reduction of responsiveness in general. The emotional experience becomes flatter, exhaustion occurs again and again, and the general state of health suffers. A kind of distance seems to build up between those affected and their environment, which on the one hand has a protective effect and on the other hand hides feelings such as loneliness and despair. At this point the burnout symptomatology actually approaches the clinical appearance of a reactive depression. In addition, chronic stress is accompanied by an excessive release of stress hormones (e.g. cortisol), which is associated with reduced immune function, obesity, high blood pressure, insomnia and heart disease. In addition, increased cortisol levels contribute to the development of brain disorders, mood swings, memory and concentration problems. 

 

Research groups of psychologists have compiled a list of possible burnout symptoms from more than 200 publications: https://www.psych.mpg.de/2319598/Burnout_BroschureA5_171024LOW.pdf

 

• Warning symptoms: excessive commitment to goals, initial exhaustion
• In the course: reduced commitment 
• Emotional reactions: first tension, helplessness and excessive demands, then depressive states, blame, aggression 
• Reduction of cognitive performance, motivation, creativity
• Flattening of emotional experience, social interactions, mental activity
• Psychosomatic disorders 

• Exhaustion, even after waking up
• Sexual problems
• Insomnia, Tensions, Tinnitus or Vertigo
• Vulnerability to infections, circulatory disturbance, gastrointestinal complaints, high blood pressure
• Extrasystole, palpitation, feelings of panic 

• Possibly an increased consumption of alcohol or drugs in the sense of self-medication
• Desperation up to thoughts of being tired of living

Some information about the burnout rate

Burnout diseases or symptoms are widespread – today more than ever. According to estimates by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, 54 million days of absence from work each year in Germany are caused by mental overload and burnout. As reported by the Federal Association of Company Health Insurance Funds, the number of days of incapacity to work due to burnout increased 18-fold between 2004 and 2012. In accordance with the Zentralinstituts für kassenärztliche Versorgung, published by “ZEITonline”, 621,000 patients were diagnosed with Z73 (burnout) in 2009, and 945,706 patients were diagnosed with Z73 in 2017.

Early detection of burnout: diagnostics

You are chronically exhausted and wonder if you are suffering from burnout? If you recognize yourself in the description of burnout, then it makes sense to seek professional support. Feel free to contact us for advice and support in finding a way out of exhaustion. 

For the early recognition of a burnout symptomatology there are numerous established questionnaires available today. The “Maslach Burnout Inventory” (MBI) is commonly used in everyday professional life. The US-American psychologist Christina Maslach has developed the MBI, a questionnaire for the diagnosis of burnout diseases and for the improved measurability of stress. This questionnaire covers three areas: Link MBI

• (emotional) exhaustion (“I feel tired in the morning before work even starts”) 
• depersonalisation or distance/cynicism (“I am not really interested in whether my students learn anything”) 
• reduced personal performance.  

Stress management for your health – Simple tips in the early stages of a burnout

In the early stages of a stress-related illness, there are simple tips for everyday working life that provide quick help. The first and certainly one of the most central measures is to admit to yourself that you have a problem. Then you can begin to take responsibility for yourself and your own health and to tackle changes in your everyday life.  Helpful measures in working life for body and mind include: 

 

• integrate breaks
• maintain a circle of friends; talk in a trusting exchange about the pull that the work has developed
• healthy nutrition
• sufficient sleep
• resume hobbies, pay attention to physical exercise

 

When burnout is already at an advanced stage of development, such simple tips, which are often difficult to implement in working life, often no longer help directly. Professional clinical support is necessary and therapy can help. But it does not have to come that far! Psychodynamic coaching can help you in advance to prevent burnout or chronification

Request a personal coaching in berlin as burnout prevention

 

Stress management with personal coaching

Personal coaching is one of the most sustainable ways of coping with stress and a healthy way of dealing with stress. Link business coaching
DYNAMIND COACHING AT A GLANCE

• Certified institutional coaching provider DBVC
• Central location in Berlin Mitte
• Bookable as package or individual sessions
• Our coaches have many years of expertise
• Focus on your individual questions in a confidential conversation
• Initiate sustainable changes. We accompany you with our analytical approach
• Experience the strengthening of your personality as well as your career and find new freedom of action

In personal coaching together with your coach you explore your conscious and unconscious parts of the self, which contribute to you constantly exceeding your personal physical or psychological limits. How did it happen that you put yourself in a state of total overload and emptying? The first step is to take responsibility for the state you are in. Even though working conditions are often challenging, it is essential to explore your own unconscious parts. How important is performance to you? How do you experience self-efficacy and how do you represent your limits? What does success mean and what values have you internalized? With a new and better felt access to yourself it is possible to take the first steps out of chronic states of stress and to experience yourself as more independent and powerful again. You learn to say no, to set yourself apart, and at the same time to build a life that you enjoy. Studies show that job satisfaction is a central burnout prophylaxis. If you know yourself and your own wishes, abilities and strengths, you are also able to find a suitable job that gives you pleasure and strength. The way out of burnout sometimes takes a while; at the same time it enables a sustainable improvement of one’s own quality of life.

Anti-stress training and burnout prevention in a team or company

If you are a manager who wants to take care of the health of your employees, please do not hesitate to contact us. We offer stress management courses tailored to your team. You also have the opportunity to find an individual solution with us, how you as a manager can work out a burnout prevention program with your team and company. 

 

Stress can come from the outside and inside. A strong orientation towards performance among employees and in the team can be productive. However, if it is related to feelings of fear and powerlessness, it can lead to frequent absences due to illness and stagnation. With our professional view we can detect signs of burnout in your team. We look at you in terms of team culture and can thus point out ways to change and develop your team. In our courses on stress management we also follow a psychodynamic approach, which has proven to be sustainable for prevention and coping. Please contact us if you have any questions. Our colleague Eva Weiße has been researching and working in the field of stress and work disturbances for many years. You can also read more about this subject in our blog. 

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