Scientists believe that burnout is not just a mental condition, but a disease that affects the entire body.

The term "burnout" was introduced in 1974 by the American psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberger. At the same time, he compared the state of a “burnt-out” person with a burned-out house. From the outside, the building may look unharmed, and only if you go inside, the degree of devastation becomes apparent.

Now psychologists distinguish three elements of emotional burnout:

• exhaustion;
• cynical attitude to work;
• feeling of inadequacy.

Exhaustion makes us easily upset, sleep poorly, get sick more often, and have difficulty concentrating.

Being cynical about what we do makes us feel disconnected from our peers and lack motivation.

And the feeling of inadequacy makes us doubt our own abilities and perform our duties worse.

Why does emotional burnout occur?

We tend to think that burnout is simply due to the fact that we work too hard. In fact, it is due to the fact that our work schedule, responsibilities, deadlines and other stressors outweigh job satisfaction.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley identify six factors associated with employee burnout:

• work load;
• the control;
• remuneration;
• relationships in the team;
• justice;
• values.

We experience burnout when one of these aspects of the job (or more) doesn't meet our needs.

What is the risk of burnout?

Fatigue and lack of motivation are not the worst consequences of emotional burnout.

• According to researchers, chronic stress, which occurs in people with burnout syndrome, negatively affects thinking and communication skills, and also overloads our neuroendocrine system. And over time, the consequences of burnout can lead to problems with memory, attention and emotions.
• One study found that those who experience burnout experience accelerated thinning of the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for cognitive performance. Although the cortex thins naturally with aging, those who experienced burnout experienced a more pronounced effect.
• It's not just the brain that's at risk. According to another study, burnout significantly increases the likelihood of developing coronary insufficiency.

How to deal with burnout?

Psychologists advise looking for ways to reduce the workload at work: delegate some of the responsibilities, say “no” more often and write down what causes you stress. In addition, you need to learn to relax and enjoy life again.

Don't forget to take care of yourself

It is easy to forget about yourself when there is no energy for anything. In the state, it seems to us that taking care of ourselves is the last thing we need to spend time on. However, according to psychologists, just her and should not be neglected.

When you feel like you're close to burnout, it's especially important to eat well, drink plenty of water, exercise, and get enough sleep.

Also remember what helps you relax and make time for it.

Do what you love

Burnout can occur if you do not have the opportunity to regularly devote time to what you love.

To prevent job dissatisfaction from turning into burnout, consider what is most important to you and include it in your schedule.

At least a little every day, do what you love, and once a week, devote more time to it. Then you will never have the feeling that you do not have time to do the most important thing.

try something new

Do something new, for example, which you have long dreamed of. It may seem counterintuitive, given that you're already busy all the time, but in fact, a new activity will help to avoid burnout.

The main thing is to choose something that will restore strength and energize.

If adding something new to your schedule is completely impossible, start by taking care of yourself. Focus on sleep and nutrition, and try to get at least a little exercise every day. This will help to avoid the consequences of burnout and return to duty.

In the early seventies of the twentieth century, scientists drew attention to the fact that many people, after several years of work, experience a state close to stress and seek psychological help. They feel constant fatigue, sometimes headaches, insomnia, general deterioration of health. Work ceases to bring them satisfaction, but on the contrary, it irritates and causes hostility. A person has a feeling of his own incompetence, helplessness, and indeed, specific professional achievements are reduced, as well as endurance and attention in general. However, the methods of psychotherapy here are ineffective.

This phenomenon has been aptly named "burnout". Unlike depression, burnout is not accompanied by feelings of guilt and depression, but on the contrary, it can be accompanied by excitement, aggression, and irritability. It turned out that professional burnout brings serious losses to society, both economic and psycho-emotional. In particular, very experienced pilots suddenly begin to experience fear of flying, uncertainty about the correctness of their actions (they say about such people “flyed”), which can lead to both personal drama and disaster. But those people who, on duty, must “give” people the energy and warmth of their souls are especially prone to burnout: teachers, managers, doctors, artists.

With prolonged exposure to burnout, real stress develops, with its characteristic symptoms (among them are cardiovascular disorders, neuroses, ulcers of the digestive tract, weakened immunity). Increasing indifference, "professional cynicism", negativism in relation to clients and their work. Sometimes there is an aversion to everything in the world, unmotivated resentment against others, fate, the government. Life seems empty and meaningless, and work is a boring and hated routine. Particular dislike is caused by people with whom you have to work - clients, students, visitors, colleagues. This type of burnout is even called "poisoning people." By the way, students are equally prone to “burnout”: schoolchildren, students.

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF BURNOUT?

According to the psychologist V.V. Boyko, emotional burnout is a psychological defense mechanism developed by a person in the form of a complete or partial exclusion of emotions in response to psycho-traumatic effects. Emotional burnout is a stereotype of emotional, most often professional conduct. "Burnout" is partly a functional stereotype, since it allows a person to dose and economically spend energy resources. At the same time, dysfunctional consequences can also arise when “burnout” negatively affects the performance of professional activities and relationships with partners (the term “partner” means the subject of professional activity, in pedagogical activity these are students).

Let's start with the fact that our nervous system has a certain "communication limit", that is, in a day a person can pay full attention to only a limited number of people. If their number is greater, exhaustion inevitably sets in, and eventually burnout. The same limit exists for other mental processes (perception, problem solving, attention). This limit is very flexible and depends on the tone of the nervous system, which reduces bad mood when the colors of the day fade, as well as unresolved problems, lack of sleep and many other reasons.

In addition, we are used to the fact that the process of communication with people is mutual, and every positive message is followed by a response: gratitude, increased attention, respect. However, clients and students are not always capable of such returns. It happens that efforts are "rewarded" only by indifferent silence, inattention, hostility, ingratitude, and even the desire to benefit to the detriment of the one who "gives himself away." And when the sum of such failures accumulates, a crisis of self-esteem and professional motivation develops.

Another reason is the lack of a full result. Working with people often lies in the fact that it is impossible to "touch", correctly evaluate. You can cheat or try, but the result is the same: children still come to school, get grades, return home. And it is difficult to prove that these specific efforts lead to higher results, and indifference to a decrease. After all, indicators of success in school life are usually temporary, fleeting, they change from a quarter to a quarter, and at the end of school they completely lose their intrinsic value.

There are many more reasons for the development of burnout. But even without them, it is clear that boring, albeit familiar work can wear out more than an emergency solution to a difficult and interesting task.

Individual characteristics play an important role in the development of burnout. There are people who find it easier to perform routine work for a long time (stayers). However, you cannot count on them if you need to mobilize forces and urgently make a big project. Another type (sprinters) at first act actively and enthusiastically, amaze with their working capacity, but quickly “run out of steam”. Usually they are very sensitive to evaluations of their actions. There are workers with low creativity, but good performance, who need direct instructions, guidance. Their opposite is creative workers who prefer freedom of choice for successful activities. Obviously, if the tasks assigned to a person do not correspond to the warehouse of his personality, burnout develops faster and deeper.

Now more and more people are involved in the sphere of social and semantic work, they have to work not with mechanisms and physical phenomena, but with people and information about them. Therefore, a whole “epidemic” of burnout is observed in society. Which of us has not had a chance to deal with "evil", "calous" leaders, officials, teachers, medical workers? Usually this "callingness" is not fully realized and does not bring pleasure and satisfaction. In essence, this is an automatic defensive reaction of the psyche.

Burnout can also be considered as a consequence of improperly organized work, irrational management, unpreparedness of personnel.

NEGATIVISM AS PROTECTION

Is there a way out? There are many ways to reduce the effect of burnout. There are whole technologies that are developed on the basis of industrial-organizational psychology. They allow you to increase productivity, increase income, improve the psychological climate and social indicators in the organization.

I must say that people without any science are trying to deal with burnout. But these methods are often "barbaric", negative. For example, professional cynicism (expressed even in special expressions, terms). Listen, how do you call students to yourself? This noisy gang, which - before you have time to take a breath after the next lesson - already runs into the office and strives to turn everything upside down?

Another negative method is physical and emotional alienation, the desire to keep children at a distance, not to allow touching, not to notice their physical shell, life problems, mental states. Professional cynicism is developed, which helps to avoid disappointment. Although this seems dishonest to many: is it possible to work with students without experiencing any emotional attachment to them?

Another way to avoid "wasting yourself" is ritualization. When communicating with clients or students, always adhere to the ritual, routine, demand unquestioning adherence to instructions. Then the work goes like on rails: they met, worked - and fled.

Energy “vampirism” also helps individual workers. There is no mysticism here, just a person uses the moment of someone else's embarrassment, suffering, humiliation, failure in order to rise, to assert himself. Then the suppression of others becomes a strong and productive motivation. Although not quite constructive and comfortable.

It happens that a person copes with burnout by emphasizing his own value, necessity, irreplaceability of his person and work. In many collectives there is such an employee, perhaps a supply manager, a storekeeper, a secretary or a person responsible for completing documents, without whose highest permission nothing can be done. He is absolutely irreplaceable. However, the day comes, it is replaced by another worker, and everything goes on as before, the organization does not crumble to dust.

A special way to deal with stress (and burnout in particular) is the use of psychoactive substances. In the West, all sorts of stimulants that psychopharmacology offers are in use. However, sometimes ordinary alcoholic drinks and cigarettes are used.

Teachers can be understood: their work is difficult in the psycho-emotional sense. It is not surprising that in pedagogical collectives there are often both people suffering from "burnout" and those who use "barbaric" methods of avoiding it.

CONSTRUCTIVE METHODS TO COMBAT BURNOUT

There are also positive methods that allow you to smooth out or avoid burnout altogether - without alienation and conflict.

First of all, you can use the rich arsenal of psychotherapy and all kinds of psycho-trainings, which are owned by professional psychologists and game technicians. At large enterprises, such events are regularly held, essentially “games for adults”, which sharpen attention, increase efficiency, and contribute to the rapprochement of employees (in our country, however, in order to rapprochement and raise corporate spirit, they often confine themselves to the tradition of a noisy feast). Role-playing games, business games, tolerance training (tolerance to irritating factors), situational training are most often used.

Training remains perhaps the most effective means of avoiding burnout. A person is stimulated and aimed at success in work not so much by acquiring new knowledge and mastering technologies, as by “overcoming oneself”. Therefore, it is very important to feel this transition to a new level, mastering the intermediate steps, especially if some symbol remains as a memory of “overcoming”: a certificate, a diploma, an award, a souvenir. Usually, participation in trainings, field seminars, advanced training courses becomes a strong incentive to overcome routine and burnout. In addition, these activities smooth out the so-called “professional deformation of the personality” (when a lawyer sees a potential offender in each interlocutor against his will, a psychiatrist sees a hidden psychopath, and a teacher a negligent student).

Another incentive is constructive evaluation. Adults, like children, need someone to appreciate their work. For this, enterprises use a whole technology of “assessment” of personnel. It takes into account personal potential, opportunities for a particular activity, attests the objective results of work and subjective feedback from colleagues, management, and most importantly - clients and students.

In educational institutions, it is not uncommon for management to ignore student feedback on the work of teachers. I observed this situation even in paid correspondence universities, where adults with great life experience study. They do not try to influence the choice of teachers, so that they present the program more intelligibly, engage in education and training, and not just certification. Despite the fact that students themselves pay for the work of these teachers, as well as the work of managers of the educational process.

In many educational institutions of the world, taking into account the opinion of students is in the order of things: this is an important component of the rating of teachers. Of course, it also takes into account the fact that a demanding teacher may gain less popularity. Therefore, in the rating, first of all, they note fairness, respect for students, creativity, the ability to interest the audience, the desire for cooperation, and not confrontation with students.

Everything is not so simple here. Personnel evaluation can be a means to improve the work and psychological state of people, but it can also turn into an end in itself, when a lot of effort is spent on beautiful reports and “window dressing”, as well as give rise to intrigue and personal grievances. The reward can stimulate a person not to improve his performance, but to “rest on his laurels”. And yet, feedback, evaluation of the results of work by clients and colleagues, is considered a necessary condition for fruitful and harmonious work.

Another way to avoid burnout is novelty. Changing activities, introducing technical innovations, updating the program, changing the place of residence and work can be a very productive tool. In large organizations, there is a tradition of "staff rotation" that is especially relevant for managers. They regularly move to manage other departments, often to branches in other cities. This avoids stagnation.

Combining learning, assessment and renewal is achieved at field events. And a short trip to a conference, the publication of a printed work can have a big effect in the fight against burnout.

The enrichment of work and the creation of a super task helps to reduce monotony. The parable of three builders, one of whom “dragged a cursed wheelbarrow”, the other “earned bread for the family”, and the third “built a beautiful temple”, well illustrates what a super task is.

High-quality management of the organization is impossible without the distribution of tasks, taking into account the individual inclinations of employees. Some need strict control, others require great freedom and do not tolerate supervision. Some people prefer a variety of jobs, others are intimidated by unusual tasks.

A serious blow to performance is caused by personal resentment, conflict, frustration (psychological suffering), mobing (collective "bullying"). Mobing can be carried out by colleagues, leaders and students. Usually this is done by some "initiative" group. It is enough to neutralize it - by persuasion, positive or negative reinforcement, sometimes simply by punitive measures, and sometimes by unexpected encouragement - and the conflict will dissolve.

In general, methods of conflict psychology are required to get out of such situations. Obviously, such situations are easier to prevent than to correct their consequences. Therefore, the observance of mental hygiene and psychological safety is of great importance for the prevention of burnout among teachers.

When communicating with Western experts, their deliberate benevolence, the desire to avoid conflicts, the formalization of results and assessments surprises. "Interesting job! The facts are selected, their analysis is made. Unfortunately, the validity of the conclusions is somewhat underdeveloped, and the deadlines for the delivery of the project have not been observed. We hope that the author will have undoubted success in his future activities. All the best!" - Such a “laudatory” review, oddly enough, can mean an irrevocable refusal, a “deuce”.

On the one hand, this is insincerity, on the other - mental hygiene. Even if you get a refusal, you don't feel hurt and don't want to protest. And here is a reverse example: “Surprisingly, the essay is written without errors and to the point. Wrote, probably. However, there are a lot of superfluous words, blots, some crumpled notebook. Yes, and you still do not pull on a good assessment! So I give three points.

It is useful to avoid scandals, conflicts, uncertain obligations (especially those that go beyond the scope of official duties), and unnecessary responsibility. An element of mental hygiene is a positive attitude, the ability to pay attention to 95% of the pluses, and not to 5% of the minuses, failures and mistakes. Unfortunately, the teacher develops just such a "professional deformation of the personality" - the desire to look for flaws, errors in the array of correct text. This harms both the soul of the teacher and the student. Let's take a household example: when we glue wallpaper, then from a small scratch or inconsistency in the pattern we grab our hearts. However, a month passes, and we can no longer remember where this defect was - no one notices it. Only the fact is visible: there is new wallpaper in the room. It also happens the same way, if you take a boy's thickly written notebook: he did a great job! But mistakes, blots, omissions accumulate, and in the end the result is a “troika”! A month later, the essence of specific mistakes is forgotten, but the feeling of chronic failure remains.

It is better to evaluate students not for the accuracy of performance, but for the amount of merit. A person can make a lot of mistakes, wander in the labyrinths of his forgetfulness and ignorance, but he did a great job - to the detriment of other things, overcame his busyness, therefore he “worked out” a positive assessment. If a student, without answering the question, receives a three, he will not acquire knowledge and confidence. It is better to give him a lot of questions, from simple to complex. So that he finds a "foothold", his level of competence, from which he can build on and grow. And evaluate it for the amount of correct answers. This method is especially good for solving the problems of general education, enlightenment, upbringing, and not teaching special skills.

Without observing professional hygiene and safety, it is impossible to create comfortable conditions for fruitful work. These conditions include both psychological parameters (including the feeling of safety and comfort, visual and acoustic comfort) and physical parameters (air, comfortable equipment and clothing, healthy food). Bad health, fatigue can be caused by factors such as tight-fitting clothes and shoes that interfere with blood circulation, or stale office air saturated with toxins from heated plastic and tobacco smoke, flashing and buzzing fluorescent lights, as well as the usual office "snack" - tea with sweets. Many office workers in the West are ditching cakes and coffee in favor of fruits and vegetables, muesli and herbal teas.

For the teacher, respiratory hygiene and positive visual stimuli are of particular importance. In our country, few people think that the cause of asthmatic cough is often chalk and cellulose dust, where microscopic mites, fungal spores and other allergens accumulate. And that a dirty board, where chalk inscriptions are smeared with a semi-dry rag, reduces perception by ten percent. Therefore, many schools generally refuse chalk, using felt-tip pens.

Finally, in order to avoid the “burnout” effect, it is very important to dose your work and be able to complete it on time. Many of us, when starting a project in life, create a “mass of plans” and strive to make it endless. However, the normal “lifespan” of successful projects is about five years. We are upset if a magazine, musical or other creative group ceases to exist, without thinking that this is precisely a “project” - a temporary association of people. Those who work for a limited time, striving to get the result, properly formalize and evaluate it. And then - a new project, possibly continuing the idea of ​​the old one, but with a different result.

Teaching is also a “temporary project” of its kind, both for the student and the teacher. Therefore, you need to know from the very beginning how to complete the activity, what the parting will be like.

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Everyone has periods of fatigue, apathy, emotional exhaustion. A person becomes distracted, begins to value his personal space more, and people in the subway are more and more annoying. Sometimes there is no strength at all to get out from under the covers, and the motivation disappears even before you open your eyes in the morning. This is not yet a reason for panic, but an occasion to think about why this happened. Burnout syndrome can lead to severe depression. How to recognize and prevent emotional burnout, explained the clinical psychologist, director of the Center for Systemic Family Psychotherapy Inna Khamitova and life coach Timur Yadgarov. Their opinions sometimes contradict each other, you can choose a point of view that is closer to you.

What is emotional burnout

THEM.: The syndrome of emotional burnout manifests itself in three areas: intellectual - it is difficult to master new knowledge, problems with memory arise; physical - general fatigue, lethargy; emotional - a decrease in mood, when a person is no longer happy with anything. The source of this, as a rule, is the following: you put much more into work than you receive in return. And here we are talking about physical, and intellectual, and emotional resources.

T.Ya.: Our life is not focused on positive emotions, but rather on momentary goals, on what society requires. Because of this, we lose something very important that fills our life with meaning. The idea of ​​balancing personal life and work is very complex, and it is difficult to find a person who combines them with ease. After all, the concentration of efforts requires full dedication, and the result is achieved either in one or in the other. If you strive to achieve high results and overcome the great resistance of the environment, tension naturally occurs, and here everything depends on how much a person is able to withstand this tension. Lack of freedom is also a common cause of burnout: dependence on bosses, organizations, other people, the feeling that a person cannot be responsible for himself.

Who is at risk

THEM.: As a rule, burnout syndrome affects people of intellectual and creative professions, and of any age. The first in the risk group are workaholics: those who actually live their work. Extremely sensitive, empathic, mentally subtle people also get there. The main condition is the return on work (both emotional and material): the smaller it is, the more likely it is to burn out. In addition to the lack of results from work, routine, monotonous activities, petty nitpicking and tyranny on the part of superiors, conflicts in the team, and lack of encouragement contribute to the burnout syndrome. That is, everything that complicates the situation at work, and the work process itself.

T.Ya.: First of all, emotionally irresponsible, passive and lack of initiative people are subject to burnout. This is also facilitated by a violation of the so-called emotional integrity: when people think and feel one thing, but say and do another. I would say that emotional burnout is a responsibility: you, as the owner of your body, must understand that you have emotions in your household that can be depleted and burned out. If a person has joy in life, love, recognition, respect, a sense of achievement, connection with other good people, the likelihood of burning out is much less. Every morning, waking up, we can run either driven by fears or driven by a dream. Question: Do you have a dream and do you follow it every day. A person who follows a dream, and not fears, will burn out less.

How to deal with emotional burnout

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Steppe talked to Zhibek Zholdasova, a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, candidate of medical sciences, about an important topic-that-cannot-be-named - emotional burnout and depression.

Why do people "burn out"?

Emotional burnout is a phrase that we use in everyday life. The professional term is exhaustion of the nervous system. The reason for this is often work, where there is stress, strong tension. For example, pilots or surgeons. Their professional burnout comes faster, as the emotional return is greater.

Those who are busy with routine also face exhaustion of the nervous system. Sooner or later, boring work gets boring. And by doing something that brings pleasure, you can avoid burnout. Work should be interesting, albeit stressful. If this is not the case, professional burnout will come very quickly.

We are often approached by people who give themselves completely to their favorite work, and at the same time do not take vacations, agree to an irregular schedule, work on weekends. The nervous system does not forgive such a regime. Holidays and weekends are a must. Forgetting this is fraught with undesirable consequences.

The first call is excessive fatigue. Many people complain about insomnia. Having sacrificed sleep a couple of times to complete work projects, you will not notice how insomnia and fatigue become your constant companions.

Sleep is one of the first to be disturbed, but one of the last to be restored. This "shatters" our nerves, then the problems grow like a snowball. The mood worsens, irritability appears, someone becomes touchy and tearful.

Taking time to rest is the most important thing. Lead an active lifestyle: go in for sports, walks, go to nature.

Why? Physical activity takes away most of the stress. All the adrenaline that is produced during hard work must come out. Release steam. Instead of sitting in front of the TV, go hiking or jogging.

Does it make sense to search for meaning?

The meaning of life and emotional burnout are closely related. Ideas and goals lead a person, define him. Without a goal, a person does not see the meaning of existence, therefore, “burns out” faster.

The culture of self-knowledge in our society is not very developed, because before we had a strong state with its own ideology. And she gave meaning to the lives of citizens. And now there is no ideology, so everyone is trying to find their own meaning of life.

A striking example of a country and the influence of ideology on its inhabitants is Japan. When the Fukushima disaster occurred, the Japanese said: "Even if the whole country goes under water, we will not leave here, we will drown with it." The USA with their American dream is similar. With ideology, people live more calmly.

Ethnopsychotherapy: is it possible to exorcise the spirit of emotional burnout?

Our people are still afraid of specialists. Although only a few came in the 2000s. Today, if they come, then there are already clinical cases that require serious treatment. We have a patient population.

Different people come. But there are several groups of diseases. Neurotic group - this includes neurotic depression, anxiety-phobic states, and panic attacks. That is, post-traumatic stress disorder, which in the West they like to put on everyone.

Among neuroses, anxiety disorders, anxious depressions, and anxiety neuroses are the most common. Relatively young people also come with these states, but more often in their thirties and forties. Mature people who are already sure that they need a specialist. I am glad that people learn about a psychotherapist through word of mouth, overcome shame and come.

But so far, professions that begin with “psi” still cause horror for many. And they go to such specialists last. It is much easier to go to psychic healers, a fortune teller or someone else.

In scientific language, this is called ethnopsychotherapy. She is engaged in shamans, bucks (folk healers - ed.). Such therapy has the right to exist, because it can help a person in a state of neurosis, after stress, in difficult life situations. The person believes and it helps him. When a patient sees a doctor, something similar happens. If you trust a specialist, then the treatment will be successful.

Depletion of the nervous system and depression: what's the difference?

People like to use professional buzzwords: "I'm depressed." But at the same time, if you went to karaoke, sang, shouted, drank a glass of wine, and you let go - this is ordinary fatigue, and not a clinical case.

I often hear the word "procrastination" used. What is procrastination? Either just laziness, or still a symptom of clinical depression. If you cope with this procrastination on your own, and it doesn’t bother you much, then what’s the point of changing everything? But if a person notices that he puts off even the most important things and this begins to adversely affect all areas of his life, it is better to contact a specialist. This behavior may be a symptom.

Emotional burnout goes away if you follow simple rules: more rest, less routine work. Depression, on the other hand, requires treatment, as it can cause suicide.

Depression in facts (data from the World Health Organization)

• Depression is a common mental disorder. It is estimated to affect 350 million people across all age groups
• Depression is the world's leading cause of disability and a significant "contributor" to the global burden of disease
• Women are more prone to depression than men

• At its worst, depression leads to suicide.
• There are effective treatments for depression

Depression: risk group

There are criteria for psychological maturity: this is when a person can answer questions of self-identification: who am I? what am I? why, why? A person has a positive life scenario and resources for its implementation. If a person is psychologically mature, then, in principle, depression is not terrible. But as soon as he cannot answer one of the questions, or if he does not have the resources, there is a risk that a person will “slide” into neurosis, and even worse, into psychosis, and then depression. If at a moment of crisis a person is stuck on some issue, he may fall into the risk group, because he did not reorganize in time.

Recognizing depression is easy.

Decline in mood is the first signal. Sleep is lost or disturbed, there is a feeling of constant fatigue - these are the initial signs. After negative thoughts arise, interest in the surrounding life disappears. A person does not want to do anything, gradually his desire to go out somewhere disappears. Over time, he becomes closed, lives on the principle of "work-home".

The danger level rises when suicidal thoughts arise. But here, too, you need to understand the difference between: “I’ll go and do something with myself” and “What will happen if I am gone?”. The latter are more dangerous because they can develop into real attempts to commit suicide.

Seasonal depression - fact or fiction?

Exacerbation occurs at any time of the year. When I worked in a government institution, patients came in all year with neurosis, psychosis, and whatever. For example, in patients with dementia or Alzheimer's, we clearly observe how with each change in the weather, the patient's condition also changes. Pressure jumps, hallucinations or aggression begin. They are dependent on the lunar phases.

Some people's brains actually sense the phases of the moon. It doesn't have to be aggressive. Tearfulness, irritability, passivity may appear. The moon influences the ebb and flow of the earth's seas and oceans, so why can't it affect the fluid in the head?

Treating depression: why are we afraid of antidepressants?

Fear of psychotropic drugs appears due to negative cases. For example, the patient incorrectly took the medicines prescribed to him, or he was prescribed drugs incorrectly. When a patient comes to me, I offer him three treatment options. Medicamentous, psychotherapeutic or mixed option.

The last option is the most effective, since the drugs will relieve the symptoms, and it will be much easier to change yourself against the background of these drugs. Standard drugs in the arsenal of a psychotherapist are antidepressants. Modern antidepressants are quite high quality, with a minimum of side effects. They are uplifting and long lasting. There are patients who say: I'm better with an antidepressant than without it.

Depression Self-Rating Tests

There is a Tsong scale for self-assessment of depression. The rest needs to be done with a specialist. The Luscher test is a good test. But the monitor does not transmit the originally accepted color shades, so it cannot be said that the result is reliable.

In general, it is better to carry out prevention, and not to treat and look for depression in yourself. In our brain there is an amazing thing - the hippocampus. It is responsible for mood, behavior and memory. The hippocampus stimulates physical activity, even minimal - exercise, climbing stairs. Also, constant learning helps not to fall into depression. You need to sincerely show curiosity and interest in the world around you. How children do.

Cover illustration: Azat Kasymov

Animations: Emma Darvick

Burnout syndrome creeps up unnoticed. Most likely, he will lie in wait for you after a couple of years of working on the same project. It would seem that you know your job inside and out and cope with it perfectly, and this is exactly what you dreamed of doing a few years ago. But why, then, are you so reluctant to get up on an alarm clock and come to work on weekdays? Perhaps you are too tired at work? Fatigue does not equal emotional exhaustion. You won't be able to rest and come back fresh in a week. If this is your case, try to make your life brighter and more fulfilling, increase the emphasis on time outside of work - and try to find new meaning and pleasure in what you do.

Why are you so tired at work

Do you meet Monday morning with a feeling of mortal fatigue and longing? At a meeting, fantasize about how a falling meteorite will rid you of your colleagues forever? Sounds like you've been the victim of emotional burnout. What is it and how to deal with it - we tell together with expert psychologists.

Emotional burnout (or burn-out) is by no means a whim of office bums, but a serious syndrome discovered 40 years ago by the American psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberg: this is how he designated the growing emotional exhaustion in the process of work. For a long time it was believed that the disease affects only those whose profession is associated with close communication - teachers, doctors, social workers. But lately, psychologists have sounded the alarm: burnout syndrome has become a real epidemic and has spread to almost all specialties. “Huge amounts of information, a fast pace of life, fierce competition and the cultivation of success in society - all these factors impose ever higher demands on our work and quality of life, which causes severe mental stress and, as a result, emotional burnout,” comments clinical psychologist Alisa Galati.

Do not confuse it with fatigue, stress or depression; burnout differs from them in some ways:
1. you feel emotional exhaustion (work no longer pleases, there is a feeling of a breakdown) and devastation (nothing brings pleasure), become more cynical (communication with colleagues and clients is annoying and makes you want to be sarcastic);
2. it begins to seem to you that your work does not make any sense, and the authorities will never appreciate all the efforts to improve it;
3. unlike fatigue, burnout syndrome cannot be cured by rest - returning after the weekend, the “burnt out” person will still be burdened by work, and the “tired” one will feel cheerfulness and a surge of strength;
4. Depression is always based on feelings of guilt or fear, while burnout is based on feelings of anger or irritability.

For all its external “harmlessness” (“Just think, you don’t want to go to work!”), This syndrome can lead to unpleasant consequences: depression, psychosomatic illnesses, reduced concentration, and memory impairment. And be sure: gradually dissatisfaction will “creep” from the office to your home and relationships - and who wants to see a whiner next to them?

Why is this happening?

Perhaps because you… love your job too much. “The more a person has a crush on work, the more distorted he perceives reality, and the easier it is for him to be disappointed and lose his distance,” explains another clinical psychologist Olga Krasnova.

Sometimes external conditions are to blame for your burnout: routine, limited personal responsibility, and lack of creativity. Krasnova adds: “In any job there must be a balance of financial rewards, emotional return and effort expended on work. And skewed to one side leads to burnout.

You can also “burn out” when you have lost your reference point in your professional activity. “If a person does not really see the point in what he is doing, then no high salary or social prestige of the work will save him from emotional burnout,” Galatz explains.

What to do?

So, if you feel that soon only ashes will remain from your professionalism, experts recommend urgently taking the following measures:
Learn to fully switch - from work to personal time. This is where visual techniques come in handy. “Imagine that the office door closes and all the problems that worried you during the day are behind it,” recommends Olga Krasnova.
Make your leisure time on weekdays as rich and enjoyable as possible. Go shopping after work, meet friends and family, play sports or hobbies - the anticipation of your favorite business will fuel your interest in work.
Set boundaries in everything - in duties, communication with colleagues. Separate the zone of your personal responsibility and uncontrollable external circumstances, what you can do and what you can delegate. Limit communication with colleagues if it is unpleasant or time-consuming for you.
Fight routine. It could be a new way of arranging papers on your desk, a regular five-minute warm-up, or driving to the office on an unfamiliar route. It is important to constantly keep the brain in good shape.
Surround yourself with bright things. Buy funny stickers for your desktop, bright pens, pencils, a notepad. Agree, when you sit at a meeting with a pen in your hand in the form of a big bear, it will be more difficult for you to get bored.
Allow yourself to be wrong. Perfectionists are prone to burnout, and therefore, allowing yourself to make mistakes in your work, you will notice that work will become much more comfortable.
Record your successes. Make a list of what you know and what you have achieved in the process. Replenish it regularly - say, write down your next achievement once a week.
Improve your skills or learn a foreign language. The learning process gives a surge of energy, creativity and a new look at familiar things.
Think more about motivation. Ask yourself: “Why am I doing this?”, “What does my job give me?”. It is important to formulate exactly the motivation that will be significant for you, and not for your parents or boss.
Set new goals. Think about what you earn money for? Turn just a “must” into something more tangible and enjoyable - buying new boots, relaxing in the Maldives, and more. Then every small step on the way to them will be filled with new meaning.
Learn to relax. Our nervous system has only two states - excitation and inhibition. If we stay in the first for too long, our resources are depleted. Therefore, it is so important to at least artificially transfer your brain to the second mode, the “tumbler” for it is meditation. Learn to slow down the flow of thoughts outside the office, over time it will become a natural way for you to relax emotionally.
Review your diet. Loss of energy and depressed mood can also occur with a lack of vitamins. Add foods rich in magnesium (prunes, seeds, seaweed), B vitamins (cereals, vegetables, nuts) and iron (liver, buckwheat) to your menu - these substances are responsible for good brain function and our energy.

And yet, despite the entire destructive mechanism of emotional burnout, experts are sure that we, like the Phoenix bird, can burn ourselves many times and be reborn again. And every time we overcome burnout, we grow both personally and professionally.