{"id":11029,"date":"2025-05-13T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T12:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/?p=11029"},"modified":"2025-09-17T15:12:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:12:39","slug":"brief-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/health\/brief-06\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost interest, nothing feels worthwhile anymore. Burnout: what it is and how to cope?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"podcastplayer\"><figure class=\"wp-block-audio podcastplayer\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/s\/1046d7c48\/podcast\/play\/103430689\/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-4-30%2F401286652-44100-2-6a7fd76714b11.m4a\" preload=\"none\"><\/audio><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"mks_dropcap_letter\" style=\"font-size: 72px; color: #dd3c7a; \">I <\/span>lit a match and began to think. There used to be a bridge here \u2014 I remember it clearly. In the mornings, it would tremble beneath my feet, even though it looked strong. It connected \u201cthere\u201d and \u201chere\u201d \u2014 effort and result, caring for someone and feeling needed, someone\u2019s hope and my action. But now there\u2019s only emptiness and a skeleton of railings. It didn\u2019t collapse all at once. First, it creaked under tension. Then the bolts and beams started falling off \u2014 little by little, every day. And if I had paid attention back then\u2026 I would\u2019ve had to admit it was falling apart. But now it\u2019s simply gone. Only the frame remains. Just a structure. Like that last match in my hand \u2014 crackling softly as it burned itself down, bowing its head at the end. And now there\u2019s not even anything left to light a candle in its memory. It feels like I\u2019ve lived through a chunk of life for nothing.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode of the Misery Shared Podcast, Slava talks about what burnout really is \u2014 and whether a psychologist can help bring back interest in life. Is that even the right question to ask? What do people actually feel when the first signs of burnout appear? How long can it last \u2014 and what happens after?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Disclaimer<\/strong>: the author makes it clear that he is not a psychologist or a psychotherapist. He strongly opposes any form of online diagnosis. This podcast is not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. Its purpose is to explain things in simple terms and to encourage people to seek help from a therapist \u2014 even if it feels like a waste of time. It also aims to help listeners choose a good mental health professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In everyday terms, burnout is a deep, systemic condition that affects both the mind and body \u2014 and is usually tied to prolonged stress, especially at work. It\u2019s as if your social battery suddenly stops recharging altogether. There\u2019s emotional exhaustion \u2014 the feeling that your emotional reserves have been completely drained, like you\u2019ve been wrung out. Another form of burnout shows up as detachment \u2014 when you start to withdraw from your work and from people, and a sense of negativity or cynicism toward them begins to grow. The third dimension of burnout is reduced personal efficacy \u2014 the sense that everything you do is pointless, that you no longer make a difference, and that the satisfaction you once felt from your work is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>So, you could say that burnout is the result of chronic stress \u2014 especially work-related \u2014 when a person is constantly overwhelmed, lacks support, and has no opportunity to recover.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>On an emotional level, burnout overlaps with depression \u2014 but it doesn\u2019t always come with such obvious signs as deep sadness or hopelessness. It\u2019s more like psychological exhaustion, so severe that the person stops seeing meaning in their work and begins to emotionally distance themselves from their responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Physically, it can show up as fatigue, headaches, sleep disturbances, and a weakened immune system \u2014 all of which are also common symptoms of stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>That\u2019s why burnout is often studied in the context of depression and anxiety disorders. Psychologists and therapists tend to view it as either a precursor to, or a coexisting condition with, those states.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Herbert Freudenberger\u2019s pioneering 1974 work emphasized that professionals don\u2019t \u201cburn out\u201d overnight \u2014 they burn themselves out over years, trying to live up to external expectations and their own perfectionism. But of course, burnout isn\u2019t limited to salaried jobs. What we see in many Belarusians today is also a form of burnout \u2014 only this time as a reaction to endless hope followed by deep disappointment. It\u2019s driven by the same psychological mechanisms described in English-language research on activist burnout and compassion fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In English-language research, activist burnout is described as a state of deep emotional and physical exhaustion, cynicism, and a sense of ineffectiveness \u2014 experienced by those who have been fighting for social change over a long period of time. It includes emotional depletion, the constant stress of witnessing injustice, and fear for loved ones. Cynicism and detachment arise as a defense mechanism \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t want to believe this can change anymore\u201d. And then comes the feeling of ineffectiveness \u2014 the sense that all efforts are pointless, even if the people around you continue to offer support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>It\u2019s all just like in a professional context \u2014 only here, the \u201cwork\u201d is the effort to change the world or to preserve human dignity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Compassion fatigue, by the way, was originally described among medical and social workers \u2014 but it\u2019s now used to refer to anyone who is constantly exposed to the pain of others. In a political context like ours, it means the endless stream of news about repression and prison sentences \u2014 and the feeling that you&#8217;re being overwhelmed by other people\u2019s tragedies, to the point where you sometimes stop feeling empathy altogether. And because of this informational overload, there\u2019s a growing urge to turn the news off entirely \u2014 just to not have to know any of it anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This very mechanism is at the root of why people become \u201cdisillusioned\u201d with the pursuit of change \u2014 not because they\u2019ve become indifferent, but because their inner resources have simply run out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Studies on collective trauma show that prolonged political repression, forced emigration, and systemic injustice can trigger a phenomenon in society that closely resembles burnout. It\u2019s the feeling of meaninglessness \u2014 the thought that \u201cwe protested, people were imprisoned for us, many have left \u2014 so what now?\u201d It\u2019s the loss of trust in others and in the future. And it\u2019s the chronic stress of survival mode: insomnia, irritability, and emotional numbness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To an outside observer \u2014 and sometimes even to ourselves \u2014 burnout may look like simple fatigue. But if you dig deeper, it often feels like the collapse of an internal structure that once held up our entire idea of who we are. Maybe you weren\u2019t just working \u2014 you were someone who creates, helps, fights, supports. Your work was an extension of your identity. And when the energy runs out, it\u2019s not just exhaustion that sets in \u2014 it\u2019s a disturbing emptiness: \u201cIf I can no longer do this\u2026 then who am I?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is especially true for professions rooted in care, creativity, and activism \u2014 where there\u2019s no clear line between work and life. If you made music, you weren\u2019t just a creator \u2014 you were the music. If you fought for justice, you weren\u2019t just a participant \u2014 you were the hope for change. So when burnout hits, it can feel like you\u2019ve lost a part of yourself. As if you\u2019re no longer you \u2014 and you don\u2019t know who you are anymore, even though you\u2019re supposed to. It\u2019s a real inner crisis \u2014 almost like a breakdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>To learn whether it\u2019s possible to recover from burnout, why questions about it can feel so irritating, how to make sense of your own reactions, and what life feels like after \u2014 listen to the rest of this episode of the Misery Shared Podcast.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/health\/brief-07\/\">next episode<\/a> of the Misery Shared Podcast, you&#8217;ll learn all about procrastination and the urge to put everything off until the last moment. Why do we sometimes feel the need to get distracted by non-urgent tasks, even when we\u2019re running out of time to finish what truly matters? Should we do something about it \u2014 and what might it really be telling us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to contact us but are afraid to use comments, you can send us an e-mail. After that it will be enough to delete your letter from the \u201cSent\u201d folder.<br>Our e-mail address is: <a href=\"mailto:help@belarus.fm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">help@belarus.fm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this episode of the Misery Shared Podcast, Slava talks about what burnout really is \u2014 and whether a psychologist can help bring back interest in life. Is that even the right question to ask? What do people actually feel when the first signs of burnout appear? How long can it last \u2014 and what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[394],"tags":[352],"class_list":["post-11029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-audio-in-russian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belarus.fm\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}