Burnout

I have been working in demanding positions and business consulting for many years, and I know about the challenges that are posed by today’s working life and the performance that is requested by others and ourselves. When we demand too much from our body and our mind, we often reach a point where we cannot bear that burden any longer and we can become ill. This state is called "burnout".

Chronic stress can cause severe damage in the human body and mind that may never heal again under continuing unhealthy circumstances. Chronic toxic stress damages the human brain. This typically happens to talented and achievement-oriented people in our society, who then lose their interest in their work, become depressive and fatigued, and sometimes even wonder if their life makes any sense to them at all.

Burn Out Symptoms

• Chronic psychic fatigue that does not recede after vacations,
• Feeling distanced from work ("inner resignation"),
• Organic symptoms, e.g. sleeping disorders, higher vulnerability to infections, appetite loss and other digestion troubles, head and back aches, vertigo, blood pressure instability, tachycardia, tinnitus,
• Psychic changes like petulance, agitated melancholia, disability to relax after work, anxiety, resignation,
• Cognitive deficits like difficulty to concentrate, disability to make decisions, self-doubt,
• Behavioural changes like social retreat, hyperactivity, drug abuse, diminished interest.

Preventing Burn Out

"A stitch in time saves nine" - this is also true for burnout. Hence I do seminars and talks for corporate environments and single persons. In these seminars I teach:

• The development of burnout over time
• The way in which chronic stress affects our body and our mind
• How we can recognize overloading
• What we can do about it
• Where you find help when "it" has happened
• Effective and practical techniques for self-relaxation

I know from my own professional experience that an accusatory finger does not help anybody. I will give you lots of practical advice and examples in my seminars to make it possible for all participants to stay motivated, productive and healthy.

Treatment

The treatment of a burnout syndrome is very individual and each case is different. Some people profit from a structured working day and some "time for themselves", others need an intense psychiatric treatment and long-term medication. With everyday passing by your body and mind accumulate more damage without treatment.