Burnout Is Not Simply A Mental Disorder
The first major difficulty in treating burnout arises from it being considered only a psychiatric or mental problem.
It's not.
It's not exclusively a depressive or anxious issue. It's not only a mood disorder.
It simply isn't.
How can I be so sure of this? Because the success of commonly prescribed treatments – both behavioral and pharmacological – is limited.
The misconception originates from assuming that the body doesn't respond because the mind doesn't want to. The problem is believed to be that the mind doesn't want to. Often, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and frustration arising from the body no longer responding as it used to, and the inability to perform as it once did, are mistakenly interpreted as symptoms of depression and anxiety.
At this point, the easier option is to prescribe antidepressants and anxiolytics.
However, treating burnout with antidepressants and anxiolytics is not only ineffective but can also be counterproductive, as is frequently reported.
Focusing treatments on "making the mind want to" is almost as misguided as telling these individuals that "feeling tired is normal."
Feeling tired all the time is not normal!
It might be common, it might be frequent, and it might even be something that a good number of people experience. It can affect individuals with regular work and lifestyles, who don’t have high levels of stress, yet find themselves struggling to cope. This is often effectively related to depression and anxiety.
On the other hand, those who reach the state of burnout are sometimes individuals who aimed for something beyond their physical, mental, or emotional limits. Whether it's a professional or personal project, physical or mental in nature, they invest so much focus and energy into that goal that they exceed their limits, going beyond what they can handle. They are dreamers, focused and highly ambitious individuals, for whom the average and the norm are starting points, never endpoints or goals in themselves.
They reach the state of burnout precisely because they didn't settle for being average.
This is why, for these particular individuals, it's extremely frustrating to be told that "feeling tired is normal," "everyone sleeps poorly," "it's age-related," or something similar. It's frustrating and unfair!
Burnout is not solely a mood disorder. As long as it continues to be simply addressed as such, thousands of people will find their success limited by their bodies – and that's something that should never happen!
16/06/2023
Posted originally - 21/05/2021 (https://www.cristinasales.pt/blog)