Burn Out Feedback

The following notes were collected in Early December 2006 regarding Burn Out from two online networks that coaching professionals use.  If you would like to add constructive data or comments or experiences please email me at stephen@spreid.com and I’ll post up your comments. Unless you specifically ask me to mention your name and contact details I will post a précis of any contribution as anonymous

UK Health Statistics Link

Here's a link to the Government's HSE website, where you can find statistics:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress.htm

From: Colin McGuinness Email: colin@cmapsychology.co.uk

I agree with, we do need better information about burn out and recovery rates. What we do know for sure is that about 1 in 5 consultations with GP's are for mental health problems.

Certainly, what I have seen in my clinical practice as a psychologist over the past say, 5 years is a

dramatic increase in people who can no longer cope at work. What label you put on this varies. The

most commonly used one is Major Depressive Episode, but the symptomatology is typically of

depressed mood, poor sleep, libido, and appetite along with either lethargy or agitation. There is often

a somatic response of some form. What is working in getting people back on their feet?

1. Antidepressant medication in the early stages

2. Psychological assessment of what caused the burn out to occur.

3. Psychological therapy targeting the cognitive restructuring of unhelpful core beliefs.

4. A phased return to work as soon as practicable with close liaison between the treating clinician and HR department.

Given this approach, I have found the prognosis is good and often achieved with 6 months.

I would be happy to give informal advice to anyone suffering burn out.

Colin McGuinness

Chartered Counselling Psychologist Email: colin@cmapsychology.co.uk

From: John Evans john.evans790@ntlworld.com

This was a long article, which has been trimmed back. The text is John’s. The headings are mine

Overview

Each case of burnout is likely to be as different and specific as the individual concerned. Our

experience is work and redundancy based

Coaching Guidelines:

To understanding the reasons for burnout is fairly complex and can involve a significant investment of time and energy in counselling or analysis.

Uncovering and understanding true underlying goals for any form of recovery and change of direction

again will take a degree of time and reflection / validation. These times can provide massive benefits.

There may well be an opportunity in disguise to re-evaluate one’s unique purpose and direction, to

reconcile whether the rewards of re-entry to the same situation are in line with one’s true goals for

life.

Re-entry Issues

Clearly the facets of reintroduction following time out can be manifold: rebuilding confidence, dealing

with peer / stigma perceptions, redirecting energy into self-management to avoid repetition,

managing a change of career or role, dealing with communication with peers or reports and possibly

directors / shareholders, review and sharing goals / plans with partner or family; developing a stepwise plan for activities of increasing demand; or – in some cases – changing direction completely and scaling “down” – sometimes this is a far better option than attempting to return and burning again.

Every case is situational – few generalisations apply, but the area is massively challenging and

rewarding to support.

A brief snapshot of a “generalised” scheme.

This is a highly methodical process based on the work of Frankl, Seligman and others. Assumptions

are that we all need “meaning” in life – but that many have not understood how to find or achieve

positive meaning for themselves:

1 reviewing, evaluating and understanding personal meaning of different events in the

individuals lives (to date) – using their own language, life-line analysis and “whole brain”

facilitation techniques

2 preparing a personal design for meaning that the individual can idealise and see as a construct

to aim for in future

3 assessing and developing on overall unique individual purpose (IP), attitude and choice -

based again on the individual’s own historical approach then how to move carefully and slowly,

in a planned / modulated fashion to any new approaches

4 Finding and believing in a central, driving, IP is really central to health and balance in life

generally – but this is definitely vital during a burnout and recovery situation. And so many of

us have not truly defined why we are here – and what we want our legacy to be

The output from point 2 is used to build a set of meaning constructs that can be aimed at and

adjusted over time. These are normally very tangible, individual features:

• e.g. “Being more outgoing and saying what I mean in sales meetings means I get understood

and a feel good for having made a contribution to others…”

• e.g. “listening to my partner and responding - rather than silently preparing my own views to

force on her – means I am more calm, more supportive and we actually agree more often…”

All the above (described rather briefly here) is about careful, considered, evaluated and reinforced

adjustments. It may take years and often does. The point about building resilience is a good one and we would suggest this relates again to direction, attitude and Individual Purpose.

Great Survivor

In an extreme example Professor Frankl himself endured Auschwitz and other camps by totally

believing that his reason to exist was an attitude-based one. No one could affect or change his

attitude – that his pride and mental strength (resilience) would not be damaged by physical

depravation; or his overriding purpose – to survive and write his latest book on psychotherapy /

neurology. This became the branch of psychology now known as logotherapy – or meaning based

therapy.

(Message Ends)

John Evans

+

Books

Try “Man’s Search for Meaning” – by Viktor Frankl +

Guideposts to Meaning – Dr Joseph Fabry is also very good and highly practical.

John Evans

A Consenting Activity

From: Dorothy Nesbit Email: dorothy@learningforlifeconsulting.co.uk

(Preamble removed)

For those on their way to or recovering from burn out noticing and addressing beliefs about what they

"have to do" in response to demands from others may well be key to creating something different.

There is a "bottom line" for me in all of this which some may find tough. Simply, burn out is a

consenting activity. Preventing burn out or achieving full recovery requires people to adopt more

effective behaviours - if they want to.

Warm regards

Dorothy

Books

I'm aware that Executive Coaching is beyond the means of many and I am happy as ever to

recommend Marshall Rosenberg's book "Non-Violent Communication: A Language for Life" which I

continue to read and re-read.

Dorothy Nesbit Email: dorothy@learningforlifeconsulting.co.uk

What You CAN do.

From: Jane Molloy Email: jane@learningaliving.co.uk

I find myself agreeing with Dorothy on her contribution to this debate. I also know that as someone

like me who has led a charmed life and who has very high levels of optimism, I need to recognise that

it is much tougher for others to be as resilient.

Last year, I attended a talk by Dr Nick Baylis, a well-being scientist, based at Cambridge University

talking about positive psychology (not to be confused with positive thinking). It was very inspiring,

because

(a) he had lots of great stories about what helps people to lead wonderful lives and

(b) there are a wide array of very practical solutions to overcoming or preventing illness, stress and

burnout. Here's a taster: -

1. Optimism can be trained - a particularly effective approach is self-hypnotism. (Interestingly,

hypnosis has been found to cure around 70% of IBS cases.)

2. Best cure for depression is exercise. Plus, joining a club has the same health benefits as

giving up 20 fags a day.

3. Recovery from surgery is 10% quicker if the patient can see trees.

4. Allow people to play to their signature strengths.

5. A deficiency in vitamin B and/or iron leads to symptoms of anxiety and depression.

6. Prevent it through self-medication - eating properly, exercising, 8 hours sleep per night, limit

alcohol.

7. Ask people to remember what bought them joy in their lives.

8. In recovery, start small, go for quick wins, to give yourself a sense of success and create

more energy.

A related thought - research (by Prof Barbara Frederickson among others) proves that positive

emotions and a sense of well-being help sustain high performance. So how come most organisations

have performance management systems and processes that make people feel bad?

Jane Molloy jane@learningaliving.co.uk

Books

Bullying Stress and Burn Out