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Some weeks, work can just be…a lot.
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Maybe youve been busting your ass on endless assignments that make youwant to cry, scream, or quit.
- Or, youre soover itthat hearing an email ping on a Friday night is enough to ruin your weekend.
One Doctors Search for Humanity in Medicine, tells SELF.
We tend to use a lot of mental health words looselyandburnoutis definitely one of them, Dr. Gold says.
A lot of people say theyre experiencing it when they really mean theyre tired or overworked.
Thats why we asked therapists to break down the key differences between the two.
Burnout is specific to work.
But technically speaking, the term burnout only refers toworkplaceexhaustion, according to the WHO.
Burnout wont disappear after you finish a big assignment or hit one deadline.
Sure, a high-stakes presentation or major patient care crisis can spike anxiety.
As Dr. Neal-Barnett explains,stressis your bodys physiological response to a specific challenge.
Youre not likely to be burnt out from just one staffing shortage or deadline.
Unlike stress, burnout usually brings feelings of detachment or cynicism about your career.
Stress and burnout share a lot of symptoms in common, like anxiety, fatigue, and irritability.
Your work performance will suffer when youre burnt out.
Your usual stress relievers probably wont magically fix burnout symptoms… Basically, when your usualself-careno longer alleviates your stress, it could signal a more chronic issue like burnout.
…and neither will taking a few days off.
Again, burnout doesnt come from just one super busy month or demanding assignment.
Regardless of your next steps, double-check togive yourself grace.
Remember, youre not lazy.
Youre not a failure for feeling this way, Dr. Gold says.
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