Burnout: Help, I'm burning!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Dr. med. Ruhwandl, which people come to your practice for burnout prevention?
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: Normally, my clients are women and men between the ages of 35 and 40 years. Recently, however, an above-average number of young women in my 30s came to my practice - and they were often forced by their partners or friends to deal with their burnout.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Do not you even remember that they burned out?
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: It is a characteristic of the "adjustment disorder" mentioned in the jargon that it is difficult to classify one's own body sensibility. One realizes later as an outsider, that one is basically already long and ready.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: But there must be some sign of burned out.
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: At some point you may sleep badly, get back pain or stomach problems. But even physical symptoms are often misinterpreted. I already had young women with me, who feared that they had cancer - and above all, they were mentally exhausted.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: How would you describe the circumstances of those affected?
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: It is often young women who have a good education and now have to get into professional life. In this situation they do not want to believe that they are exhausted - before it even started properly. And they can not. Who can admit that the 1000-meter run is over after a few steps because of side stitching?
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: But why are you so early at the end? Because many are withheld with short-term contracts, internships or pregnancy representations?
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: Some employers certainly take advantage of the fact that young people are burning for what they do. And young women burn almost more often than young men, because they put themselves under even greater pressure and can not distance themselves so well. They are more perfectionist than men. When they work in jobs where they have a lot to communicate with other people, the pressure comes from all sides. And often they just do not receive recognition in the form of influence, reward or further employment. Are they overwhelmed by the bosses? As a rule, they like to be challenged. Worse than the pure workload, however, is the insult by non-recognition - that makes you sick.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Is perhaps the economic crisis with their hiring freezes and austerity a reason that now more young women come to you?
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: I have the impression that some of my clients are increasingly suffering from burnout since parental allowance.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: The parental allowance should improve the situation of working parents.
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: However, it does seem to mean for some young women that they are putting more pressure on themselves to earn well and safe before they have a baby. So that the parental allowance turns out higher and then they come back into the job in which they have proven to be good. And before the second child is then rangeklotzt again. Until one day you can not.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: How do you get out of this dilemma?
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: First of all, the affected person must learn to articulate himself: "Something's wrong with me."
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: And how do you help your patients achieve more balance?
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: We start with relaxation exercises. Then we try to bring more peace into everyday life. And finally we try to find out why the client is so over her limit. Often she has noticed the commitment of the parents. Or there is an injury that drives you so. For example, one of my clients lost both parents, grew up with a loveless stepmother, got racked until she had her own practice and her own family - and then collapsed.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: But that's an extreme.
Dr. Dagmar Ruhwandl: But symptomatic is the endeavor to have everything in a dry cloth before you take care of yourself. Most young women believe that they can devote themselves to their inner life only when external conditions are stable. That's wrong. Only those who have peace, strength and can be good at the job. All my clients love their job. You just have to learn to pay attention to yourself. For a perfectionist will still be one in ten years.
