HOW PANDEMIC BURNOUT COULD MAKE YOU STRONGER

Until recently, the general consensus was that burnout left those who had experienced it a little bit broken. But in late 2019, Dr Judith Semeijn, professor of sustainable human resources management at the Open University in the Netherlands, and her colleague Greet Vonk, who works clinically with people recovering from burnout, discovered that it doesn’t have to be this way. Although it may not feel like it at the time, recovering from burnout can leave you even stronger than before.

In the study, which was published in the International Journal Of Workplace Health Management, 166 research participants who had all been previously clinically diagnosed with burnout and had all fully recovered already, were each scored on their markers for post-traumatic growth – having gained new insights and resources as a result of their burnout experience. They were also surveyed on their current levels of burnout complaints, such as cynicism, exhaustion and inefficiency. All of them reported fewer signs of burnout than the general population, and these signs further decreased in correlation with the more post-traumatic growth they’d exhibited.

The bolstering effects of their new, stronger, more resourceful selves did not weaken over time. “Whether their recovery was a year ago or 10 years ago, they all profit

still from their experiences,” says Semeijn. “After their recoveries from burnout, they were able to regain resources and to develop new ones, so they’ve gained a new perspective,” she adds. Such a resource might be an ability, for example, to see through the fug of lockdown exhaustion and recognise that you need to look for some help with childcare and see whether you can relax for a couple of hours.

The researchers observed that people who have beaten their burnout see their lives as before and after burnout, just like people who have had life-changing accidents. Similarly, many of us around the world will view our lives as before COVID and after.