You'll become tearful and find yourself crying at random moments. The mental symptoms of burnout mean you can no longer function the way you used to, whether that's at work, at home, or when you're on the go. You'll have trouble concentrating, sleeping and remembering things.
The fallout from our ability to maintain our work and life obligations from burnout can cause uncontrollable crying and long-term mental and physical health disorders.
Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.
feel isolated — disinterested in the company of family and friends, or withdrawing from usual daily activities. feel overwhelmed — unable to concentrate or make decisions. be moody — feeling low or depression; feeling burnt out; emotional outbursts of uncontrollable anger, fear, helplessness or crying.
Since burnout affects people differently, recovery time hinges on how a person experiences work-related exhaustion. Because of this variation, recovery time can take anywhere from a few weeks to several years.
Ways to Handle Emotional Burnout
Take a break from those long hours of work and examine your feelings and thoughts. Stop pretending that everything is fine and admit to yourself that you are already mentally drained out. Focus on your needs and prioritize your physical and mental health.
In general, there are three symptoms to be aware of: exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. Exhaustion: This fatigue presents itself both mentally and physically.
Burnout also enlarges the amygdala, which governs our fight-flight-freeze response and threat perception. The result? We become more “primitive” since the brain circuits for fear, irritability and threat perception are stronger.
Burnout keeps you from being productive. It reduces your energy, making you feel hopeless, cynical, and resentful. The effects of burnout can hurt your home, work, and social life. Long- term burnout can make you more vulnerable to colds and flu.
Your brain on burnout
“One of the most striking (effects) is thinning of the gray matter of an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex,” Arnsten said. “It helps us to act appropriately. It gives us insight about ourselves and others. It gives us perspective.
However, frequent, uncontrollable, or unexplained crying can be emotionally and physically exhausting and can greatly affect daily life. This type of crying may result from a mental health condition, such as burnout, anxiety, or depression. It might instead stem from hormonal imbalances or neurological conditions.
The brain becomes less able to regulate our emotions in the expected ways, resulting in visible emotional responses, such as tears or angry outbursts. We might not even realise how overwhelmed we are until tears are running down our face after a seemingly minor incident or experience.
Emotional tears contain stress hormones and other chemicals, so shedding tears as a response to stress, or any other emotion, can help us let go of them. Research shows that there are even more benefits to crying, too.
Burnout doesn't go away on its own; rather, it will get worse unless you address the underlying issues causing it. If you ignore burnout, it will only cause you further harm down the line, so it's important that you begin recovery as soon as possible.
It takes an average time of three months to a year to recover from burnout. How long your burnout lasts will depend on your level of emotional exhaustion and physical fatigue, as well as if you experience any relapses or periods of stagnant recovery.
If you're “losing it,” you need eight hours of sleep plus two ten- to 15-minute relaxation breaks. “Hitting the wall” means eight to nine hours each night, plus two breaks. And once you're “burned out,” you need eight to ten hours of sleep, plus three 15- to 30-minute naps or retreats.
While burnout is not a mental health disorder, it is closely tied to a few. Burnout can be a cause of a mental health disorder, but mental health conditions can also cause burnout. According to a study conducted by the University of Macedonia, burnout has an interconnected relationship with both depression and anxiety.
The most common signs someone is having a mental breakdown are: Hopelessness. Thoughts of suicide. Sense of worthlessness.