Everyday dangers and how to avoid them
For Belgian psychologist David Vandenbosch, increased professional mobility and new media are some of the reasons why burnout has become frequent. “Even for people who welcome change, a new job is stressful. Smartphones, laptops, the fact we’re supposed to be reachable around the clock, they all mean our system can never switch off,” he says.
Vandenbosch, the co-founder of stress management clinics in and around Brussels, works on building resilience within businesses as well as individuals, and he recognises that laws don’t go far enough. “A new code on employee wellbeing provides psychosocial audits for those susceptible to stress in the workplace. If you ask people to work a lot, you need to give them the means to do so, so we try to make managers aware of not continually applying pressure on employees.”
The new classification of burnout has had an additional benefit. “Employers who once worried about taking on someone who had suffered it now find that a person with experience of chronic stress is much more solid and can be a positive element in a team,” he says. “They are more efficient and know about things like setting personal limits.”
Clinical psychologist Nicole Josephson has similar experience of workplace issues and regularly treats burnout sufferers as a therapist at the Community Help Service (CHS) in Brussels, a mental health service and helpline for the international community, as well as at private practices in Brussels and Antwerp. She pinpoints young and ambitious expat professionals as classic burnout victims. “They put everything into their work and as they come from another country, they don’t yet have a social circle, which makes it harder to keep that all-important work-life balance. I think there are a lot of careers in Brussels where people feel they should be available around the clock.”
Josephson notes that it’s more socially acceptable to admit to burnout than having a nervous breakdown or depression. There are also underlying factors to the condition. “It’s common to have unhealthy relationships at work or a relationship that provokes a memory of one that is problematic, she says.
“Personality factors include being anxious, which tends to make you more perfectionistic, hard-working and ambitious. Having difficulty expressing your discomfort and liking being in control predispose you to overwork, leading to your whole world becoming skewed as all your energy goes into one place. If work is problematic and you cannot find satisfaction in another area or in another relationship to help counterbalance this, all you are getting is reinforcement of your work identity.”
Burnout and expats
While there’s a possibility of burnout in all jobs and levels of responsibility, it usually occurs when you don’t have a sense of control. “It helps when you feel you can make decisions for yourself, decide on your own projects,” says Josephson. She believes managers are more susceptible when they have to report to someone else or if they have difficulty managing their team. “I’ve seen a lot of people burn out if their authority is disregarded, if they don’t feel they can move their staff in the right direction, if they take their job seriously and want to make a difference,” she says.
While some cases are less severe, recovering from burnout can be lengthy. “Some people can get over it quite quickly, but others may need at least a year, especially if they have ignored their own internal messages that things are going wrong. Recovery may be devastating and in a psychological sense is almost like learning to walk again,” says Josephson.
There are wider implications for expat families. “At CHS we treat children, adults and families. With children, we see a lot of anger at being moved and leaving friends. They pick up on tension and stress in the family even if it’s not verbally expressed, which can be a surprise for parents and difficult for them to know how to cope with,” she says.
While Josephson thinks Belgium has been slow to recognise psychotherapy as a profession and the importance of supporting people in the workplace, “reflecting the national bias not to talk about problems”, she has noticed a changing attitude. “It’s maybe a swinging of the pendulum, but we are seeing more people in Belgium taking parental leave and working shorter hours. Millennials in particular are questioning the work ethic of the older generation and showing more of an interest in traditional values and going back to nature, so there is some optimism for the future,” she says.
The warning signs of burnout
- Feeling sad or depressed
- Anger and irritability
- Sense of meaningless, pointlessness and loss of sense of purpose
- Feelings of being unappreciated
- Low energy/exhaustion
- Anxiety, particularly feelings of panic
- Memory problems
- Concentration problems
- Digestion problems
- Social withdrawal
- Loss of sex drive
- Using alcohol or drugs to cope
Stress-busting tips
- Take 30 minutes out every day
- Try to live in the present
- Switch off your phone at night and try not to reply to emails at all times
- Don’t give up sports and hobbies
- During moments of stress, stop and assess your mood
- Spend time with family and friends
- Seek help if alcohol or drug consumption increases
By Sarah Crew