Burnout in the Human Services Field

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Burnout is frequently found in the Human Services field due to its emotionally and mentally demanding nature. “According to experts, the causes of Burnout include heavy caseloads, unrealistic timeframes, low pay, and adverse working conditions.” In 1996, Burnout had become so prevalent that the National Association of Social Work felt the need to address it and added it to the NASW Code of Ethics. So what do we, as newcomers, need to be prepared for?
According to research done by psychologist Christina Maslach, Ph.D. Burnout effects a person’s mental, emotional, physical and behavioral functioning. Maslach’s research provided the following list of typical symptoms one would experience. Mentally, Burnout can lead to confusion; impaired judgment and decision-making; forgetfulness; and decreased ability to identify alternatives, prioritize tasks, and evaluate one’s own performance. Emotionally, Burnout can cause emotional exhaustion; loss of a sense of personal accomplishment and merit; depersonalization and alienation; depression; and easy excitability, anger, and irritability. Physically, Burnout can lower energy level, change appetite and sleeping, and cause gastrointestinal problems, hypochondriacal complaints, and exhaustion. Behaviorally, Burnout can cause increased or decreased activity level; extreme fatigue; excessive isolation from coworkers, family and clients; disorganization; misplacing of items; and impaired competence on the job.
Since we are all at least heading towards the Human Services profession, what do we need to do to prepare ourselves? By following a few suggestions and taking to heart the seriousness of Burnout, hopefully, we can create ourselves some resiliency to withstand the daily grind.
As an Army Medic...

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... started.
My military service in the medical field has given me first-hand knowledge of how physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausting it can be to help another person through a crisis. The more traumatic the origin of the clients issues the more traumatic it is on the person doing the helping. There are fields that are going to have a higher prevalence of Burnout. Some of us are choosing to make this our full-time, life long career. It is advised to find ways to mix things up and transfer out of this type of field off for a reprieve. If you don’t you will find yourself stagnate and losing all enthusiasm for a field you once respected and loved.

http://www.militaryonesource.mil/non-medical-counseling?content_id=268677 http://pro.psychcentral.com/2013/Burnout-in-mental-health-professionals/00771.html http://www.naswassurance.org/pdf/PP_Burnout_Final.pdf

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