Stress: When Motivation turnes into Burnout

Stress is a reaction securing survival in life threatening situations. A pulse of epinephrin is released. Many people state that their productivity is increased when they are under pressure. The epinephrin released allows for the energy to sustain a day when one appointment is following the other.

The positive stress created for exceptional cases however turns into negative stress if it is existing on a continuing basis. The motivation is lacking. Some of the physical effects it may have are headdaches,  anxiety and muscle cramps but also depressions, weight increase, heart diseases, drug or alcohol abuse and burnout syndroms can occur.

The first groundbreaking studies correlating stress to disease were published in 1967 by Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe, two psychiatrists. They developed a ranking of stress producing events for adults. Starting with the death of the spouse and followed by divorce and separation a new orientation in the job was already factor number 15. Even though this is normally a positive change the tension and fear of the new situation are not to be underestimated stress factors.

Hans Selye, a stress researcher and physician (1907-1982) searched for physical reactions of stress. He differenciated into three phases following each other: alarm. opposition and exhaustion. The burnout syndrom does belong to the exhaustion stage. 

Prof. Dr. med. Joachim Bauer is an internal specialist and psychotherapist located in Freiburg, Germany. He describes the Burnout Syndrom by three characteristics that have to occur at the same time:

1. emotional exhaustion

2. low personal accomplischment

3. depersonalisation

For a person to perceive stress as a motivational factor again the primary goal is to reduce the work load. Delegation to co-workers and the outsourcing of work are two effective and readily available tools to achieve immediately a significant effect. That the outsourcing can be suitable even for persons in higher positions can be seen when looking at companies offering high level expertise on temporary basis e.g. www.pharmoveo.com.

If then the time gained is used to be physically active e.g. to jog, to visit a fitness center, to swim the negative effects of stress onto the body can be released faster. The combination with relaxing activities that produce enjoyment will allow the body to get back into the necessary balance.