12 SYMPTOMS OF BURNOUT

Burnout symptoms range from mild yet worrisome to severe behaviors you encounter daily at work or in family life. You want to avoid the severe ones by paying attention to subtle signs rather than dismissing them as an unavoidable part of a hard-charging life.  

1. The Compulsion to Prove Oneself: obsessively demonstrating worth; tends to hit employees with enthusiasm and who readily accept responsibility.
2. Working Harder: an inability to switch off.
3. Neglecting Needs: erratic sleeping, eating disorder, lack of social interaction.
4. Displacement of Conflicts: problems are dismissed; we may feel threatened, panicky, and jittery.
5. Revision of Values: Values are skewed, friends and family dismissed, hobbies seen as irrelevant. Work is the only focus.
6. Denial of Emerging Problems: intolerance; perceiving collaborators as stupid, lazy, demanding, or undisciplined; social contacts harder to maintain; problems are viewed as caused by time pressure and work, not by needed life changes.
7. Withdrawal: social life sparse or nonexistent; need to feel stress relief leads to alcohol/drug use.
8. Odd Behavioral Changes: changes in behavior to the point that friends and family are concerned.
9. Depersonalization: seeing neither self nor others as valuable. Personal needs are non-existent.
10. Inner Emptiness: feeling empty inside can result in exaggerated activities like overeating, compulsive sex or gambling, and alcohol or drug abuse.
11. Depression: feeling lost and exhausted.
12. Burnout Syndrome: can lead to mental and physical collapse and necessitate full medical attention.