How to recognise Burnout Part One: How to spot the signs and symptoms of burnout stages 1-4.

Many Doctors only consider themselves to be burnt out when they fully collapse mentally and physically (the final matchstick above). That’s the time when they finally have to listen to their body screaming at them and do something about it. The time when they have to reach out for help and take time off work.

Many doctors don’t know that there are 12 steps of burnout, and that it can be spotted much earlier if you know what you are looking out for. Then you can take steps to start your recovery and avoid the next stage of burnout.  

The good news is that Stage 12 or full burnout can be avoided by taking notice of your body and what it’s trying to tell you and by making some small changes in your life. 

Is this you? 

Stage 1️: you feel a strong drive to prove yourself, seeking to feel valued at work or looking for external validation from colleagues

Stage 2️: you work harder and longer to prove yourself. You go to work even earlier and stay at work later. You take on even more work as you keep saying yes to others.  You feel like you are riding on the crest of a wave.

In yourself, watch out for feeling less productive and far less efficient the longer you stay at work.  Tasks that normally take you five minutes to complete earlier in the day when you are at your best, take almost twice as long to do the later you stay at work.  Your energy levels will start to dwindle, and you will start to feel exhausted. 

In others you will notice “presenteeism”- they are always at work before you and leave after you. Reach out and ask them how they really are.

Stage 3 and 4.  You now start neglecting your own needs. You will hear yourself saying “I’m too busy to do any self-care”. You start to stop doing the things that keep you well. You start to get irritated and anxious too.  This is the stress stage of burnout as your adrenaline and cortisol levels rise. You start to struggle to keep up with the demands of work and home.

You will now start to blame others for how you feel rather than asking what is my body telling me here?  What does this all mean? You ignore what your body is trying to tell you.  You push through and carry on…..doctors are especially good at this bit.

We as doctors are so skilled at diagnosing our patients with their symptoms and signs, yet it is so hard for us to spot the stages of burnout in ourselves as it is insidious (that is unless we drop off the end of the performance cliff when we hit the brick wall of stage 12 of burnout).

Burnout is your body and mind telling you need to make changes.  

It is insidious and not linear.  You may experience symptoms from stage 1, then 3, then 6 and then go back to 4 again.  It fluctuates.

The key message here is don’t wait for full burnout to happen before you put yourself and your needs first. 

It’s far easier to recover from the earlier stages of burnout and to avoid further burnout than to recover from full burnout (stage 12).

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