Stress Management Psychologist

Stress, or burnout, can trigger a cluster of physical, emotional, and mental symptoms. It results from constant, repeated emotional upheaval at home and in the workplace. Workplace stress is created by an environment with too many pressures and not enough support.

People who burn out develop negative self-concepts and job attitudes, and become detached, apathetic, angry, or hostile.

Burnout is a major problem in the helping occupations, where people give a lot to others but fail to take care of themselves in the process. Professionals in medicine, social work, law enforcement and education are especially prone to burnout symptoms.

Of course, burnout can also affect people in other types of careers. Jobs that promote burnout include ones in which workers do repetitive or routine tasks, never get much feedback or have a lot of responsibility but very little control.

Employees suffering from burnout feel responsible for everything that happens. They feel they receive very little cooperation from co-workers and feel powerless to change things. These feelings can lead them to assume a martyr-like position, become resigned and apathetic, and focus on the worst aspects of the job.

People suffering from burnout often blame others or the situation rather than taking action to change it. How does burnout happen? It can begin when a person who has difficulty setting priorities and balancing life is confronted with a stressful home or work environment.

Often, when combined with problems at home, the pressure of multiple stressors exceeds the individual’s ability to cope.

Some common sources of job-related stress include:

• Poor time management
• Conflicts with co-workers, supervisors and managers
• Feeling unable or unqualified to do the job
• Difficulties adapting to changes in the work routine
• Feeling overwhelmed by work
• Inability to meet deadlines
• Lack of support from supervisors and managers
• Feeling that work is meaningless or boring

Many people learn to deal with job-related stress. Those who burn out don’t. Often, the types of people who burn out are those who show the most promise at the beginning of their careers. They are perfectionists, idealists and workaholics. They start out enthusiastic about their work, dedicated and committed to doing their jobs. They typically have high energy levels, positive attitudes and are high achievers. Over time, stress and the inability to cope with it lead to pessimism and early job dissatisfaction.

Workers in the early stages of burnout feel fatigued, frustrated, disillusioned and bored.

They may suffer from symptoms of stress, such as:

• Increased consumption of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine
• Abrupt speech
• Decreased eye contact during conversations
• Changes in sleeping and eating habits
• Withdrawal from other people
• Moodiness and irritability

As burnout progresses, work habits begin to deteriorate. Affected workers arrive late and leave early. Productivity drops. They become isolated and withdrawn and avoid contact with co-workers and supervisors. They become increasingly angry, hostile and depressed.

Most suffer from physical symptoms of stress such as:

• Chronic fatigue
• Headaches
• Back pain
• Dry mouth and throat or difficulty swallowing
• Diarrhoea or constipation
• Rashes, hives or other skin problems
• Chest pains or heart palpitations
• Nervous tics

In the final stages of burnout, workers experience an irreversible feeling of detachment and a total loss of interest in their jobs. Self-esteem is very low. Or anxiety can peak to include panic attack. Feelings about work are totally negative and chronic absenteeism becomes a problem.

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight, and it can be reversed with the right steps.

Workplace Stress Management at Rose Park Psychology

The psychologists who have a particular interest in workplace stress are:

• Dr Danny Camfferman

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