Anxiety and Burnout Syndrome in the Coronavirus Pandemic

These are the anxiety and burnout syndrome problems that can appear in times of COVID.

The health and social crisis of the coronavirus has had a strong impact on the lives of all of us personally, socially, economically and at work. And this, of course, has repercussions at the psychological level.

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 work paradigm we knew, prior to the pandemic, has vanished; today 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, which has already been recognized by the WHO as a psychological disorder to be taken into account. or Burnout, which has already been recognized by the WHO as a psychological disorder to be taken into account.

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, by a work environment that is too demanding, by an overly demanding work environment, and by the fact that the work environment is too stressful.It can be caused by, among other things, an overly demanding work environment or excessively long working hours. In short, it is linked to a mismatch between the incentive system and the demands of the job, resulting in negative emotionality such as excessive anxiety mixed with demoralization.

For many people, this syndrome is adding to the problems caused by the pandemic we are currently experiencing; and its consequences range from the impossibility of continuing to work on the part of the person burned out at work, to the appearance of anxious 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 important ones.

Isolation

The months of confinement over the past year have been a truly distressing situation for a large number of people who have been working alone in their homes for prolonged periods of time and unable to leave their homes.

This situation experienced by so many citizens during the early months of the pandemic has been one of the greatest sources of stress.This, combined with the impossibility of meeting with friends and family, has in many cases triggered the appearance of the burnt-out worker syndrome.

2. Monotony

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

On top of 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; combined with the demands of the job, they give rise to feelings of frustration and discomfort.The result is a cocktail that is very conducive to the appearance of this syndrome.

3. Anxiety generators

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

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

4. Difficulty in family reconciliation

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

Parents who work at home with their children in times of confinement have been faced with the difficult task of attending to their work obligations at the same time as their parenting duties.

This context can be another common stressor, especially when children prevent their parents from working..

5. Uncertainty

The uncertainty we live in today is another of the constants that affect the lives of the vast majority of the population, whose working future hangs in the balance in many cases or who have been affected in one way or another by the health, economic and social crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In many cases, the uncertainty eliminates the 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 likely to generate a burnout syndrome in the person.

6. Long working hours

Teleworking sometimes leads to a blurring of daily work schedules. That is why long working hours performed by employees working from home, together with other risk elements such as work stress or high demands, can also contribute to the appearance of the burnout syndrome, because even if we save the commuting minutes, it is easy to fall into mismanagement of the hours of the working day.. As Parkinson's law says, work tends to expand until it takes up all the time available, which in the case of working from home is often the whole day.

This happens mainly in those cases in which the worker extends, often without realizing it, his working day due to the lack of temporary referents and the lack of supervision and immediate support from those who in other situations would have been at his side.

What can we do about this?

Burnout syndrome and other forms of discomfort caused mainly by the work context can and should be treated through psychotherapy. Therefore, if you suffer from them, we invite you to contact us. At 360º Psychology we offer online psychological assistance adapted to the current times, based on our extensive experience as mental health professionals.