Preferably in an early stage first understanding is gained about what a burnout is and what having a burnout entails for you. We summarized this by 5 basic questions:

1. What is a burnout?

Exhaustion of the organism(1), combined with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or cynicism, and reduced personal accomplishment(2)

Caused by: chronic (not occasional) stress that develops over time(3)

Due to: being over ambitious, being (under challenged) over asked and/or being under  acknowledged(4)

2. What does this mean in practice?

A burnout is a state in which your body and mind give an alarm signal, telling you that the way you have been living the past period had a negative impact on your wellbeing, and a critical point has been reached.

This alarm state is less or more intense and continuous for a shorter (months) or longer (years) period, depending on how long and how deep you went mentally and physically in the period in advance, as well as how effective you change the points that negatively affected your wellbeing.

3. How do I know if I have a burnout?

If you are unable to accomplish your daily activities and you or your environment recognize (parts of) the top definition, chances are high you have a burnout.

Nonetheless, we advise you in any case to visit your doctor to verify.

In addition to the above definition there are several (online) tests available, but also these are limitedly able to analyze your full situation.

4. How can I find support?

Idealy you get or ask from your doctor suitable advise who to go to.

Often people start searching themselves. There are many forms of support to find.  And there are more and more people who developed themselves as coaches. For this we advise you to be critical in your selection. BurninBack is developing a website to help you with this.

5. How did you get into this burnout and what are the issues that you now face?

This last question is one you need to answer/write down to yourself as honest as possible. Idealy supported by an expert who can guide you in deepening these questions. These answers are critical in the next steps of your recovery proces. Strengthen & Focus

(1) Plieger et al., 2015 (2) Maslach et al., 2001 (3) Dale & Weinberg, 1990 (4) Montero-Marin et al., 2016.