Anxiety and burnout syndrome in the coronavirus pandemic

The health and social crisis of the coronavirus has brought with it a strong impact on the lives of all of us both personally, as well as socially, economically and at work. And this of course has psychological repercussions.

And it is more than evident that the appearance of this new virus has completely changed the way we communicate, live in society, work and manage our free time.

The labor paradigm that we knew, prior to the pandemic, has vanished; Nowadays, the new ways of working from home have generated many problems both physically and psychologically in the workers of our country.

One of the disorders that is currently affecting more people since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic is burnout syndrome or Burnout, which has already been recognized by the WHO as a psychological disorder to be taken into account.

• Related article: "8 essential tips to reduce work stress"

What is burnout syndrome?

This syndrome is characterized by a state of intense physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that can be caused by a situation of sustained work stress

, due to an overly demanding work environment or excessively long working hours, among other things. In short, it is linked to a poor fit between the incentive system and the demands of the work, which leads to negative emotionality such as excess anxiety mixed with demoralization.

For many people, this syndrome is adding to the problems caused by the pandemic that we are experiencing today; and its consequences range from the impossibility of continuing to carry out the work on the part of the person burned at work, to the appearance of anxiety and / or depressive problems.

Causes of this problem in the context of the pandemic

There are several causes that explain the appearance of burnout syndrome in the context of the current coronavirus pandemic; these are the most remarkable.

1. Isolation

The months of confinement experienced over the last year have been a truly distressing situation for a large number of people who have been working alone in their homes for long periods of time without being able to leave home.

This situation experienced by so many citizens during the first months of the pandemic has been one of the greatest sources of stress, which, combined with the inability to meet friends and family, have in many cases triggered the onset of burned-out worker syndrome.

2. Monotony

Throughout these months we have all noticed in a similar way the monotony as the days go by. And it is that, the lack of incentives and leisure plans with other people beyond daily work, especially for those who telework (since the experiences to which they are exposed are less varied), it can be a difficult situation to overcome psychologically.

Besides that, the feeling that every day is the same, that there is no change from one week to the next, can also generate feelings of frustration and discomfort; Together with the work demands they result in a very conducive cocktail for the appearance of this syndrome.

3. Anxiety generators

There are many sources of anxiety and stress that we can find in a pandemic context, and all of them can affect the well-being of the person in one way or another.

The health crisis that overwhelms us every day, the illness or death of a family member, the global economic crisis and its effects on the personal sphere, confinement or fear of losing one's job, are some of the vicissitudes with which we live day by day and that can generate a burn syndrome in many people.

• You may be interested in: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

4. Difficulty in family conciliation

Family conciliation has always been a challenge for a large part of the workers in our country, and the The current context of a global pandemic puts even more at risk the possibility of reconciling work life with family.

Parents who work at home with their children in times of confinement have encountered the difficult task of attending to their work obligations at the same time that they carry out their duties as fathers.

This context can be another of the most common stressors, especially when children prevent their parents from working.

5. Uncertainty

The uncertainty that we are currently experiencing is another of the constants that affect the lives of the vast majority of the population, whose future employment depends on a thread in many cases or that have been affected in one way or another by the health, economic and social crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In many cases, uncertainty removes daily incentives (by not ensuring that in the medium and long term the achievement of goals is possible or will bring benefits) and can also cause demotivation, stress or anxiety, which in turn is susceptible to generating a burnout syndrome in the person.

6. Long working hours

Teleworking sometimes leads to the blurring of daily work schedules. That is why the long working hours performed by employees who work from home, along with other elements of risk such as work stress or high demands, can also contribute to the appearance of burnout syndrome, because Even saving the minutes of travel, it is easy to fall into mismanagement of the hours of the day. As the Parkinson's law, work tends to expand to occupy all the available time, which in the case of work from home is, many times, the whole day.

This happens mainly in those cases in which the worker extends, many times without realizing it, his working day because of the lack of temporary references and the lack of supervision and immediate support from those who in other situations would have been at their disposal. side

What can we do about this?

The burnout syndrome and the rest of forms of discomfort originated above all by the work context can and should be treated from psychotherapy. Therefore, if you suffer from them, we invite you to contact us. On Psychology 360 We offer online psychological assistance adapted to the times, based on our extensive experience as mental health professionals.