Experiencing Burnout? Types, Symptoms and Treatment

Do you feel burntout?

Drained, emotionally flat and unmotivated?

It can seem impossible to feel rested and experience joy in this state. It can also be really hard to determine if you are burntout and what type of burnout you have when you're in the worst parts of it.

Let’s talk about some of the types of burnout seen at our clinic. This is important as it will influence causes, related treatment and even self-care.

Burnout: 5 Types

ADHD/neuro-atypical burnout-

Living and functioning in a neuro-typical world is extremely challenging on an ongoing, continuous basis for those who identify as neuro-atypical.

There are a number of key pieces to this experience, if it speaks to you or a loved one.  

Trying to focus, stay present and regulate can be exhausting. The bigger issue is due to the expectations and pressure to do things the same way as others or neuro-typicals. A certain number of breaks at work and ways of taking those breaks, are all built into the social fabric of a workplace that you feel compelled to follow. But does it work for you?

Is there a critical voice, constantly berating inside your head that gives you no peace? It can be exhausting to put all your energy into socializing and focusing, leaving you emotional. You then have to mange affect regulation as well as rejection sensitivity. ADHD Info

Who can keep up?

Caregiver burnout-

Are you in a complex caretaker role? This has its own unique pieces and possible burnout, over time.

You may have a loved one with dementia/Alzheimer’s you visit often. This is extremely emotional and an ever-changing climate with good and bad days.

You may have a high needs child that needs a lot of time, energy and care.

Relationships like this can drain you long-term. They are worth it, but can also lead to ignoring your own needs often.

Toxic relationship burnout-

Are you in a romantic relationship or marriage that is hard a lot of the time?

If there are insecurities and trust issues it can result in high conflict.

While a healthy relationship can result in more resilient mental health, a toxic, high conflict, insecure one can drain us on several levels.

Conflict is draining but it also means emotions are often high and dynamics unpredictable.

Is home still a safe place to rest after a hard day if conflict and emotional sensitivity is likely?

Dysphoric burnout-

Is there a chance mild depressive symptoms have been a part of your experience since you were a teen or most of your life?

Do you often feel melancholic and unmotivated, grappling with low energy and worries?

Happiness results in more resilient mental health as we tend to assume the best will happen and we feel a safety and flow in the world and with others. When we are down or sad it can be hard to be hopeful and trust things tend to work out, Conformation bias.

The treatment needed for Dysphoria, or mild depressive symptoms, will be different than other types listed here.

Work burnout-

Do you have a hard job? High stress, intense, long hours?

Or it may be simply toxic. An abusive boss or simply a personality clash in which you feel unappreciated and/or even targeted by a manager, soul-crushing.

More and more people feel dissatisfied at work and also more trapped than ever. We all need an income and getting another job is taking longer with more time investment to get that new job as well.

When we are burntout this can seem hopeless and impossible.

Burnout: Symptoms and Treatment

There are typical burnout symptoms, regardless of source, such as emotional and physical exhaustion. You may feel you can’t seem to do anything, it all seems taxing.

Emotional flatness is common as is feeling you can’t cope and withdraw/isolate, the world feels like a lot.

Then there are symptoms unique to the source of your burnout, important for treatment, which we will review below.

Neuro-atypical burnout-

Do you feel brain fog throughout the day, especially the latter parts of it? Do your tasks seem impossible?

Do you start to feel physically exhausted? Cognitively taxed? Sensory over-stimulation? Shirt suddenly scratchy and all you can think about?  

You may also feel emotionally unregulated often and can’t seem to get any control over it.

You may feel you need extreme isolation for hours after you finish work. It may feel impossible to do dishes, laundry with upset housemates, as a result.

Feel like you are always behind?

This can become a chronic ongoing feeling that has unique needs for treatment to manage your life.

The piece that needs to be managed here is the ongoing, daily and chronic burnout of living on the neuro-atypical end of the spectrum.

Growing up and living as an adult in a neuro-typical world/systems means you have to figure out what works for you on your own. GROUP

What schedule or structure works for you?

What do you need to rest after a long day at work?

Do you need to hide in your car for your lunch break?

What are your needs in friendship?

What feelings do you experience in having to go through the process of figuring this out in the first place?

Get an ADHD coach to help. They get it and have been there. They can help you create a daily way of being to cope, thrive and mitigate chronic burnout.

Caregiver burnout-

I find irritability can be key here. When you are in a frequent caretaker role you often need to ignore your own feelings and related needs to take care of the other person. This need to suppress often leads to irritability when you can’t take time for yourself.

Boundaries are so important here as well as eliciting help.

Boundaries may be possible depending on the caretaking situation. It is most likely other areas of your life will be impacted, putting needed boundaries in place, in the beginning stages of burnout with the goal to mitigate burnout symptoms.

What rejuvenates you so you can continue to take care of your vulnerable people?

What do you need to do less of to have enough energy for care-taking?

Eliciting help is a huge piece of this. Familial as well as professional. Join a support group where you can speak freely about the heavy impact of this time. GROUP  See a friend or therapist in which you can carve out space for yourself to laugh and speak openly when things are heavy.

Toxic relationship burnout-

Mental health inevitably erodes when conflict is frequent in the home. Anxiety symptoms increase as the central nervous system is on high alert, depressive symptoms likely follow as the system experiences chronic overload.

Their can be trauma in living in relationships of this nature, and our past trauma is often what makes us vulnerable to getting into a toxic dynamic in the first place.

You do not need to leave the relationship, although many feel this is best. But you both need to feel equally motivated to change these patterns.

You likely need individual therapy HILLARY DESIREE as well as couple/family support

Dysphoric burnout-

Dysphoria is a form of chronic mild depression. You likely feel emotionally numb and there is no joy in your daily activities. These symptoms come and go, with times you feel better and really low times as well.

The source of this can be complicated. Do you have an abuse history? This impacts our mental health and overwhelms our coping.

GET HELP TRAUMA

It can be a chemical imbalance, driven by genetic factors. Is there a family history of mental health struggles? Talk to your GP about medication or a psychiatrist referral, it helps many. It can provide a much needed boost to get you doing other healthy things like exercise, eating better, chatting with friends.

Create a careplan to implement all of the time to manage these symptoms and increase the use of these tools at more vulnerable or challenging times. GET HELP

Work burnout-

This can be a tough one to navigate as it gets more severe, long-lasting without change. It begins with dread, irritability and anxiety symptoms at work, but can certainly generalize and impact other areas of life. We spend so much time at work.  

You may find it helpful to talk to your GP about stress leave, but often get “you need a vacation” response.

What if a vacation does not work anymore? What if you think about your dreaded workplace the whole time and can’t relax?

It may help to take a stress leave to create enough space to apply to other jobs. But getting a new job is harder right now. It can take awhile to get one. You may feel trapped in order to have an income.

Talking to someone to create a plan to cope as best as possible while you look for other work may help. TEAM There are non-defensive ways to exist in a toxic workplace if leaving seems impossible.

You are not alone. Ignoring burnout symptoms does not make them go away.

We are here to be part of your careplan.

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Lisa S.