Corporate Burnout: What is it and how to treat it

AFL Executive Darren Birch opens up about Burnout, Depression & Recovery

An unbearable pressure

COVID-19 is forcing some of us to slow down, face extreme financial pressure with job losses or re-evaluate our connection with friends, family and an uncertain future. Yet others find themselves under even greater pressure to perform in their corporate roles as they restructure or adapt their business, products, services and marketing models to deal with the current crisis. Prioritising our mental health at a time like this can easily mean it’s relegated to the bottom of the To Do list.

Has the pressure been building for some time?

With a high-flying dream career, a precious family at home and all the pressures of life on his shoulders, Darren Birch was at his breaking point. After 20 years experiencing atypical symptoms of undiagnosed depression, Darren reached the point where fear of failure in his career, as a father and as a husband, led to him experiencing corporate burnout and seeking treatment that has changed his life.

Darren’s depression did not manifest in the usual ways – he was not unmotivated, unable to leave his bed most days and experiencing terrible lows – in fact he was highly functional, yet experiencing few emotions at all. A combination of art therapy, psychotherapy, physical therapy, natural surroundings and true rest at Palladium Private allowed him the inward focus to assess and reset.

Signs you may be experiencing burnout

• Development of an escapist mentality
• Chronic sadness, depression
• Feelings of emptiness or pointlessness
• Uncharacteristic self-isolation (not COVID-19 related!)
• Weight gain or loss
• Changes in appetite, unusual cravings
• Increase in consumption of substances to cope
• Increased reliance on medications
• Physical exhaustion, inability to sleep normally
• Chronic headaches, neck or back pain
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Succumbing to illness frequently
• Irritable outburst (at home or at work)
• Unexplained anger, cynicism or pessimism
• Neglecting your personal needs
• Chronic mental fatigue

How does workplace stress contribute to burnout, anxiety and depression?

Toxic stress makes people feel pointless, like a cog in a wheel, taken for granted. To feel valuable as humans, we need to feel we are contributing to a greater good or cause. Corporate burnout is typified by a feeling of lack of control. You may feel you are not able to influence workplace decisions, or your work is not being recognised and utilised effectively because the overall procedural structure of the organisation is unwieldy. Or your exhausting daily experience may be due to personalities, flaws and damaging traits of close or powerful colleagues.

Seeking help to treat burnout

Are you experiencing some of the symptoms above? If so, take these warning signs seriously and reach out. If you continue to grit your teeth, push on and stoically “get through it”, it will be unsustainable over the long term. You are pushing your mind and body to run on empty. Eventually,your tank will run out of fuel and every aspect of your life will sputter to a grinding halt with a hiss and a bang. Before you reach that point, turn the focus solidly on yourself and seek help.

Why do Palladium Private programs work?

You can reset and regain your life like Darren did

If you are reading this and resonating with Darren’s story and the symptoms of burnout above, don’t worry – it is not too late! Recovery is possible no matter how overwhelmed you’ve become. It’s far too easy to be so overcome by the situations surrounding us, we can no longer see a way forward. Undertaking a BioPsychoSocial program at Palladium Private, such as the one Darren engaged with, is a surefire way to re-align your personal values, career aspirations and contentedness with life.

Find out more about the BioPsychoSocial programs offered at Palladium Private:

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