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Is It Burn Out? Is It Frustation? Is It Unrealistic Expectations?
I have been seeing a lot of blogs about "burn out". But as the poster describes it, it sounds more like frustration or in some cases, sour grapes.
That is not to say that frustration can't lead to burn out.
But classic burn out? Do you really know what it is?
If you do, then describe it here for me.
Because I have been involved-heavily involved-for twenty seven years and I guess I haven't had it.
And when I see people with 6, 7, 9 years talking about "burn out", I have to wonder.
That is not to say that frustration can't lead to burn out.
But classic burn out? Do you really know what it is?
If you do, then describe it here for me.
Because I have been involved-heavily involved-for twenty seven years and I guess I haven't had it.
And when I see people with 6, 7, 9 years talking about "burn out", I have to wonder.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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Well written Joe, I can see the point in all you have discussed. All too often there isn't any words of praise for a job well done, but theres always a way and need for improvement. When you feel you have done everything in your capability to make the situation right, it is deflating to be told you need to do better.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Well said, Ed. Bravo!
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Permalink Reply by turk182 on
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Well said ED!
I am not sure what is considered burn out, but as a volunteer of 20 years you do get discourage and upset at times. I and it is not always the calls that get to fire fighters but you also have administrative issues, personall issues.
When dealing with the reports and workmans comp. issues and getting all the rosters and equipment list and checks done and repairs and replacement of equipment.
Then dealing with people and their issues with policy and each other and running calls sometimes get to you, I never felt burnt out but some times it fels like you are beating your head against the wall.
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I say Ed, you really have a knack for this. Well written and excellant points throughout
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Joe:
I don't know if it's telepathy or what, but between what you have described and what Spence has written, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for in terms of how we view it.
It will fit well into my further discussions with a group that I am with to help the process. Thank you very much for your insights.
Spence: you strike me as someone who has possibly had some psychology in your background or are just very astute. Or both? In any case, you are very articulate and I thank you for that.
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Turk:
I don't know if you're old enough to remember the Super Ball? It was a ball that could bounce over a house. I mean, this thing would bounce perpetually forever. It was made of very hard rubber and if you dropped it from a height of four feet, it would bounce five feet high.
Anyway, that is what you get with a fire department. Twenty five superballs. Twenty five different personalities bouncing off the walls and YOU have to get them bouncing in the same direction, at the same time for the same reasons.
You have to keep them from killing each other long enough to mitigate a hazard and go home again. And then repeat the cycle. Fortunately, in small communities like mine, we get to know each other pretty well, but that can also be a detriment. My point is that the fire department has one mission. It's the different personalities in your people and the ability of your leaders to channel that that will mean success or failure. In the process, it creates a "stressful" environment. But it is manageable. If it isn't, then it can lead to "burn out".
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I agree with you there it seems like the chief and myself can get them to work together at calls. but at the station it gets to be mind numbing.
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Bumping to get some more input on this topic.
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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Most burn out occurs in the Volunteer world. (although some is existant in paid houses)
Most of the 'paid' guys I know who've been on the job a long time can tell you the day they can retire. Almost all of them do it on or about that day. I don't know if you would consider that burn-out or not. But they don't hang around any longer than they have to. Vollys can quit. Paid guys can too but retirement pay is always worth the last crappy couple of years.
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Permalink Reply by anne potter on
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I am not for sure if I was burned out more than needing a break.. We only had 2 other Emt's from the town where I helped run calls . The one emt drank so she was useless most of the time.. I always feel I needed to be around for the time that call came in ... Then my mother got ill . Between working 12hr shifts and taking care of her ,and running calls .. tooo much. So when it was time to renew I did not..I run fire calls now only because of the fact there is not many of them.. I would probally miss the hell out of it.. I do miss my emt ,but need to take a break for now till life settles down...
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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I tried to follow this all the way through, and my head started hurting while reading the very articulate posts of Mr Spence!! LOL He, and Joe, and Art have all made good points and this a valuable discussion to have for us. But I THINK there was one thing missing, and thats the point that each person has a different chemical make-up, and has different levels of ability to handle and deal effectively with stress. Some may be able to eat stress for breakfast, and may take YEARS of bad calls and stress to become burned out. Yet others may only take one bad call before they realize its too much for them, and they are burned out.
My understanding of burnout was when you reached a level where you are just too tired; Mentally and physically and emotionally exhausted, you have seen too much for your bodies chemical makeup to endure without starting to show signs it has had enough, like fatigue, mood swings, irritability, depression, headaches, etc. So my point is, each person is different, and each has their own levels of stress. Good discussion.
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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Thought this might be relevant to this discussion. Maybe it's a little more prevalent than we think. What did we do before Google?
Burnout harms workers’ physical health through many pathways
Physicians assessing people at-risk for cardiovascular disease should consider work-related burnout in addition to the traditional risk factors, suggests a research review published in May’s Psychological Bulletin (Vol. 132, No. 3). The recommendation stems from an analysis of dozens of studies that converge on the idea that burnout—defined as persistent emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue and cognitive weariness—may negatively affect workers’ physical health more than previously believed.
In fact, recent research has found that burnout—and the related concept of “vital exhaustion”—increases the risk for cardiovascular disease as much as such well-known risk factors as body mass index, smoking and lipid levels. Specifically, burnout increases people’s likelihood of developing myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, stroke and sudden cardiac death. Studies also point to an increased likelihood of type II diabetes, male infertility, sleep disorders and musculoskeletal disorders among those with the extreme physical, mental and emotional fatigue.
The review, written by psychology professor Samuel Melamed, PhD, and his colleagues at Tel-Aviv University in Israel, sheds light on how burnout contributes to poor health outcomes. One possible culprit: Many studies show that burned-out workers have lower cortisol levels than their peers. Because cortisol helps restrain activation of the immune system and other components of the stress response, a deficit may disinhibit immune function, leading to hyperactivity of innate immune inflammatory responses.
“There is an increased recognition in the literature that inflammatory processes are central to the pathogenesis of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer,” Melamed explains.
Other potential pathways between burnout and health problems could include poor health behaviors, sleep disturbances, the metabolic syndrome and difficulty breaking down blood proteins that contribute to clotting.
Moreover, some research suggests that burnout’s persistence over time may arise from a vicious cycle in which its physiological affects—such as increased concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines—feed back into the brain, further contributing to workers’ exhaustion and weariness.
Interventions that target only one aspect of burnout—such as by ramping up workers’ coping skills without addressing chronic inflammation and other physical effects—are less likely to break the burnout cycle, Melamed suggests. Indeed, the complicated nature of burnout calls for multidisciplinary interventions addressing organizational, behavioral, psychological and physiological factors, the authors conclude.
—D. Smith Bailey
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