Prophylaxis
If you recognize early enough that you are potentially at risk of burnout, you are quite capable of preventing the development of the disease. This must be done on two levels. Firstly, the external stress factors described under “Causes” must be reduced.
The affected person must learn to give up/reject responsibility and thus delegate work. Disputes or conflicts with colleagues but also in the family area should be avoided or clarified early on. In the professional and private sphere, the person at risk must make it clear that he or she cannot take on all tasks.
If the danger of revision becomes clear, tasks and projects must be rejected or the work shared. Recovery and regeneration phases must be called for and adhered to. Certainly this is not always possible, so that in extreme cases a change of job must be considered.
Stress reducing measures such as progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobsen or autogenic training, as well as a healthy balance to work and stress such as regular hobbies or sports, are also beneficial. It is quite difficult to counteract the beginning burn-out on an internal level. The affected person has to learn to say “no”, to rethink his own requirements and expectations and to admit mistakes to himself or even to ask for help from others. Without professional guidance in the sense of psychotherapeutic support this is often very difficult to achieve.
