Why not to numb

For forty years, we have explained burnout as having three main domains of influence.

Exhaustion – mental, physical, and/or emotional overwhelm.

Cynicism - mentally jaded, detached sand disengaged

Efficacy – basically your ability to do good work is harmed.

The recent work of Gordon Parker, et al, at UNSW has included (not before time, I reckon) an appreciation of the effects this has on our mental health and how that can manifest in people suffering through burnout. It is hugely valuable work from Parker and colleagues to include the concepts of anxiety and depression in burnout.

My model below incorporates the concept of “Affect’, which is a description of how external circumstances can create our mental health response.

‘Affect regulation’ is seen as our ability to control our emotional state and mood, which requires self-awareness, to support our mental health.

When we cannot regulate or control our volatile emotions, we experience mood swings, anxiety and depression, and often rely on self-soothing behaviours, like alcohol and other drugs, binge-eating, gambling etc.

When this is happening, we can numb the overwhelm for a while, but in doing so, we also numb everything else, including relief, joy and calmness. As Brene Brown says, we can’t pick and choose what we numb.

It is a short-term solution that can have long-term negative effects.

There is a much better approach to overcoming burnout and increasing self-care. And there is no time like the present to begin.