Essay on Stress and Burnout

Stress and Burnout

In the present world, individuals are facing many challenges. Individuals have to cope with the stress that arises from all aspects of their daily life. Stress occurs in the work places where people have to meet strict deadlines with the limited time. On the other hand, the working environment may also act as a vital source of stress. Family issues also cause stress to both men and women. In some instances, individuals are faced with a challenge of balancing between work and family issues. Therefore, it is essential to find a balance tin life so as to cope with stress.

Stress and burnouts bear some common features. Burnout can be referred to as a situation where an individual loses motivation or extinction of the innate drive to accomplish a task. Burnout occurs when a person devotes a lot of energy to accomplish something, but he fails. Burnout occurs often in daily lives. However, it is hard to notice it because it has not been recognized as a psychological disorder. Burnout victims exhibit some characteristics such as mood disorders, anxiety and depression. This process is rather short , and it is caused by stressors known as situational stressors. Burnout is not related to hormonal imbalances.

Organizations are experiencing problems as they try to solve issues that are related to burnout and stress. The effects of stress to an individual can be classified as follows:

• Reduced Physical Energy. Stress results to exhaustion of energy, this leads to physical weaknesses. Individuals become extremely tired, and they lack the energy to cope with the situations that arise.
• Reduced Immunity to Diseases. Whenever individuals experience stress and burnouts, they lack the time to exercise, and they may not eat well. This lowers the immunity, and individuals may end up falling sick. This may lead to absenteeism and low productivity.
• Increased Pessimism. Whenever individuals become stressed, they lose hope. They lack confidence in what they do, and they always think that they will not succeed. Pessimists do not have a positive outlook for the future, and it becomes hard for them to work efficiently.

Mood disorders are the most common consequences that result from stress. Mood disorders occur after individuals face a highly stressing situation. It may be difficult to assess the situation, and it can only be determined through an assessment by a clinical doctor. Normal moods can turn into a mood swing, and it becomes extremely hard to establish a difference between the normal moods and the mood swings. Mood swings can be divided into two groups depending on the characteristics displayed by the affected individuals. Victims of unipolar mood disorders exhibit depressive symptoms. Unipolar disorder presents one of the main depressive disorders. The symptoms can last for a period of two weeks or more.

The other mood disorder is referred as bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorders can further be classified into bipolar disorder 1, 2 and also cyclothymic disorders. Individuals with bipolar 1 disorder portray various characters different from bipolar disorders 2. An individual who has cyclothymic disorders may experience more severe depressive moods, as well as maniac symptoms. It is essential to note that these mood disorders can easily affect the life of an individual, as well as his personal life. This may consequently affect the productivity of an individual.

Anxiety and Panic Disorders

Anxiety disorders are the most complicated phenomenon that result due to the stress. It is difficult to differentiate between anxiety and fear. Some people find problems differentiating between the normal anxiety and other forms of anxiety. Anxiety arises when an individual feels that there is an impending danger that is about to occur. Anxiety can be useful to some extent, because it can help an individual to adapt to the existing situations and develop viable solutions to solve the problem.

These refer to a situation where an individual experiences fear. Panic disorders can only be determined when panics are repeated occasionally. Researchers argue that the disorders can occur as a result of post-traumatic stress. They also occur when an individual undergoes through the extremely stressing events.

Stress Leads to Constraining Relationships

Stress causes straining relationship among the close members of the group where is the victim of stress. People who fell stress always have the habit of isolating themselves from the other members. This may cause strained social lives, it worsens the situations further.

On the side of an organization, the effects of stress and burnout cannot be underestimated. Stress and burnout pose a threat to the human resource managers. Stress and burnouts result to demotivation of the employees. Lack of motivation among the workforce arises directly from the high stress levels. The management faces challenges as they try to develop strategies that can motivate the employees. Managers have to weigh many motivation options that can be applied to ensure motivation. Lack of motivation reduces the performance, as well as the productivity of individuals. Factories which manufacture items face the blow when employees are demotivated. Challenges can also occur when trying to organize staff members who are stressed and burnt out.

Absenteeism

When individuals become stressed, they may spend a lot of time resting. On the other hand, individuals who face burnouts lack interest in their jobs. Their drive and morale is already lost, and they do not have any interest in the job. Such individuals develop a negative attitude towards work; it becomes difficult to handle such people. Individuals, who experience burnout, always fail to report to their work stations. Organizations face problems with managing absenteeism. On the other hand, organizations face recruitment problems.

Stress and burnout cause a high turnover in the organization. Whenever individuals are stressed at their work place, they try to look for alternative organizations where they get satisfaction. This causes a high turnover in the organization. Organizations face a problem when they lose key employees who have experience.

Burnouts also cause less commitment to the organization objectives. Organizations depend on each and every employee on the way to success. Employees play a vital role in the success of organizations, and whenever they are not committed, it becomes hard for organizations to achieve its objectives.