Nearly 3.2 million workers, whether salaried or not, present a major risk of making a burn-out, this syndrome of emotional and psychic exhaustion linked to work. The tragedy is that it can lead to the worst: wanting to end your life in order to silence the suffering felt.
“This inner burn takes away one by one the forces, the desires of life and gradually transforms people into ghostly beings”, reports Dr. François Baumann, author of “Burn-out, quand work makes you sick »(Ed. J. Lyon).
Among the professions at risk, according to a study by the firm Technologia (2014): farmers (23.5%), craftsmen, traders, business leaders and executives (19.7%), teachers, caregivers (nurses, doctors), salespeople (hotline, counter), and workers (13.2%).
In question, the pressures to produce more and more quickly, the lack of personnel, the fear of unemployment which pushes to hold on at all costs and the constant porosity between the office and the private sphere, because of new technologies.
Depression and burnout are different
“Burnout has depressive elements, associated with three dimensions: an emotional exhaustion which leads to a feeling of inner emptiness, where one no longer feels anything pleasant,” explains Professor Charles-Siegfried Peretti, head of the psychiatry department of the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris. The previous professional motivation disappears. Then, a kind of depersonalization takes place. People no longer have the same affects as before towards their colleagues: they put themselves in a bubble, as if at a distance from their environment, while they are immersed in it. “
Finally, the lack of accomplishment at work is compounded by frustration, feelings of injustice and low self-esteem.
Warning signs not to be overlooked
Fatigue, anxiety, sleeping troubles, increased heart rate at rest, digestive disorders, physical pain, irritability with, at the same time, a deterioration in relations with colleagues, family tensions, a tendency to isolation and / or a poor lifestyle (alcohol, junk food).
“Certain personalities are more vulnerable: the fighters, perfectionists, liking challenges, giving themselves body and soul in their work, as well as people dependent on what other people think and the worried, nervous, emotional, specifies Pr Charles-Siegfried Peretti. . Their Achilles heel is to burn out at work, when the imagined return on investment does not meet their expectations (recognition, job development, ideal image of themselves, etc.). “
The means to get by
So as not to be totally exhausted, the work is long and complex. We start by moving away from the stressful world via a work stoppage. Then, on a case-by-case basis, it involves either behavioral and cognitive therapy to get out of erroneous work-related thought patterns, or psychotherapy.
It is essential to learn to curb stress (yoga, mindfulness meditation), personal activities, exercise.
Medicines are sometimes necessary (anxiolytic, antidepressant …). And also change its working conditions.
The occupational physician. Contacting him is the first instinct to have. It is subject to professional secrecy and does not transmit anything to the employer.
Anti-stress services in hospitals. At Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris, a consultation dedicated to suffering at work chez les femmes was created by Dr Fatma Bouvet de la Maisonneuve.
Stress management internships in companies. They are part of the professional training of employees and are therefore financed. Contact its human resources department (HRD). The French Institute for Action on Stress offers several internships of this type (www.ifas.net).
