Burnout: The High Price Of Success?

Are your goals eluding you despite ceaseless hard work and sacrifice? Are you always tired, quick to anger, constantly plagued by physical ailments, and always forgetting important appointments and deadlines? Without knowing it, you may be a prime candidate for burnout--a psychological/emotional phenomenon that usually afflicts the high-achiever. But no matter how long burnout persists, it is not irreversible. You can survive it.

Here's how Dr. Herbert J. Freudenberger, a New York psychologist, specializing in burnout,, defines the malady in his book, Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement (Doubleday/Anchor Books): "To deplete oneself. To exhaust one's physical and mental resources. To wear oneself out by excessively striving to reach some unrealistic expectation imposed by oneself or by the values of society" such as having a perfect marriage or being the most outstanding worker on the job.

Dr. Freudenberger, who has been a psychologist for more than 30 years and who has many black and Hispanic clients stated in a telephone interview that what high-achieving persons need to do to avoid burning out is to re-evaluate their goals. "They never take time out just to reflect, to think. So one of the things I do talk about [in 8-hour seminars] is a shift of goals. What else becomes very important is an awareness that as the burnout occurs, many changes take place in their behavior. The changing behavior ranges all the way from an emotional change to a mental change as well as physical changes."

"And those that are close to such a person whether that be a mate or an employee or a colleague or a friend are often the first ones to be able to call it to that person's attention by saying 'Hey, something's going on with you.'"

Among the things he recommends is that you acknowledge your feelings. "As soon as denial enters the picture," he writes, the "person's symptoms become enemies instead of allies." He adds "Denial intensifies that which is being denied." Tiredness is considered the best indication that one is burning out because it is a symptom that is easily recognized. You should become aware of your limitations. If your work is becoming monotonous and repetitious, ask your supervisor for a change in duties. Cultivate on-the-job friendships. This will encourage the exchange of ideas and viewpoints as well as offering each of you relief.Take a much needed vacation. It also helps to develop a sense of humor as insurance against burnout.

"Above all," writes Dr. Freudenberger, "never lose sight of the fact that you, as a human being, are more important than the task, no matter how crucial the task may be."


This article was originally published in the New York Amsterdam News in 1982.