Stress and Burnout

Stress is a natural process and is not necessarily a negative thing. Manageable stress helps you to stay attentive, spirited and on the ball. Everyone experiences stress differently but when stress becomes overwhelming it can damage your health, your mood, your productivity, your relationships and your quality of life.

When unmanageable stress moves into the realm of being excessive and prolonged it can then lead to burnout. When we are in the throes of full-fledged burnout we are no longer able to function effectively on a personal or professional level. Burnout reduces output and drains your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly stranded, hopeless, cynical and aggrieved. Eventually, you may feel like you have nothing more to give. However, burnout doesn’t happen suddenly.

Burnout may be the result of excessive and prolonged stress, but it isn’t the same as too much stress. Stress, to all intensive purposes, involves too many pressures that demand too much of you both physically and psychologically. Stressed people can still feel that if they can just get everything under control things will be all right.

Burnout, on the other hand, is about having no more in the tank; feelings of emptiness, being devoid of motivation and beyond caring and with a perspective of no hope of positive change. Burnout is progressive and by its nature it is much more insidious than stress, creeping up on us over time, which makes it much harder to recognize. Still, our bodies and minds do give us warnings of both stress and burnout.

Do I have a Problem with Stress and Burnout?

Signs of unmanageable stress

The common warning signs and symptoms of stress overload can be found in cognitive, emotional, behavioural and physical states. If you are experiencing any of these then the chances are that you are under unmanageable stress and if not addressed the likelihood of heading into full burnout is high.

Cognitive symptoms include:

• Memory problems
• Inability to concentrate
• Poor judgment
• Seeing only the negative in things
• Racing and irrational thoughts
• Constant worrying

Emotional symptoms include:

• Low mood or general unhappiness
• High levels of agitation
• Mood swings, irritability and bouts of anger
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Loneliness and isolation
• Physical symptoms can include
• Gritting and grinding teeth
• Skin issues like rashes and spots
• Gastrointestinal issues such as IBS
• Frequent bouts of colds
• Diarrhoea or constipation
• Dizziness
• Indigestion/acid reflux
• Loss of sex drive
• Headaches/migraines
• Behavioural symptoms include:
• Changes in eating habits
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Isolation form family and fiends
• Inability to make decisions
• Illicit drug use or abuse of prescribed medication
• Increase in alcohol use and cigarettes
• Self-harming, nail biting, nervous ticks

The signs and symptoms of burnout are the same as those of unmanageable stress but with added emotional symptoms such as powerful feelings of failure and self-doubt, loss of motivation, feeling helpless and unable to come up with solutions with consequent lack of accomplishment and loss of hope.

Stress and Burnout Treatment at Strong Hope

Many clients that present with stress or burnout come to us on prescribed medication or with behaviours that include the misuse use of substances including alcohol. This being the case these maladaptive coping strategies will be addressed at the same time as we address the stress and burnout.

Limiting access to social media, e-mail and work has some immediate benefits as these contributing stressors are restricted while in treatment so clients can focus on getting well without external distractions.

Our approach to treating stress and burnout is similar to that of treating other mental health conditions – that is, through high intensity psychological interventions (CBT & DBT), positive psychology, re-evaluating priorities, reframing outlook on work and life, nutrition, sleep hygiene and exercise.

Through the stress and burnout programme clients will look at the underlying causes of their stress and burnout, which may be related to a whole host of things including poor nutrition, lack of exercise and lack of boundaries. It is vital that these underlying issues are identified and addressed as they are key to the prevention of relapse.

We explore these through a range of talking and non-talking therapies, so clients understand why they do the things that they do but equally importantly then learn new skills and coping strategies to do things differently in order to negate the chances of returning to a debilitating anxious state. This we do through individual 1:1 work and group work for those that have chosen this modality.

One aspect of our programme that is key to recovery is for clients to see the importance of down time and the need for personal pleasures and joy. This we do this through our complementary therapies, sound therapy, adventure therapy and using the natural resources that the island has to offer.

All clients work to a daily schedule that is tailored for the individual in relation to their treatment plan and consists of a balanced programme of psychotherapy, complementary therapies, adventure therapy, health/nutrition and fitness. Clients will be expected to work on therapeutic assignments based on issues that are identified as part of their treatment, which they do outside of the core face-to-face hours, and present these in their sessions with their therapist. As clients come to the end of their treatment they will work with their primary therapist and therapy team to produce a relapse prevention plan, which Strong Hope will support through the aftercare programme that we offer.

Each client will have an experienced and fully trained primary therapist who is an expert in dealing with stress and burnout, and this therapist will support and coach them throughout their stay even though the client may engage with other members of the therapy team according to need.

Programme Duration

Strong Hope offers a range of stress and burnout programmes from just 14 days up to 42 days depending on client availability and need. For those clients staying 28 days or more we also offer an inclusive family programme towards the end of the client’s stay.