Tom's Life Bits

Oct 4, 2004

By Mary Awosika

Your mind is reeling with tasks: Drop off the kids at day care, get to work for a morning meeting, fire off some critical memos, juggle work deadlines, cook dinner before helping the kids with homework, clean, work on the budget, pay the monthly bills and, finally, head to bed.

Through sleep, your body hopefully will restore the energy needed to maintain this frenetic schedule. Yet experts say people typically never fully recharge. Instead they keep up the race to multi-task until they experience symptoms of burnout – the product of endless stress on the body and mind. The symptoms include chronic fatigue, sudden bursts of rage, anxiety, irritability and – to add insult to injury – sleeplessness.

Burnout, as defined by Webster's New World Dictionary, is “a state of emotional exhaustion caused by the stresses of one's work or responsibilities.” It is triggered by a combination of pressures: from work, from family obligations, from mounting finances, from unexpected natural disasters.

And, in the United States, social standards that focus on materialistic goals heighten the average person's sense of overwhelm, say psychologists.

“The 'prioritization' in this country is so predicated on visual, materialistic possessions,” said Miriam Lacher, a mental-health counselor at Bayside Mental Healthcare Center in Sarasota. “The things that nurture and nourish us are absolutely secondary.”

A survey conducted by the American Psychological Association found that 75 to 90 percent of physician office visits are due to stress-related ailments and complaints. And among workers in the United States, 25 to 40 percent blame stress on job burnout, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control.

So what happens when folks already juggling plenty enter the end-of-the-year holiday season? People are more likely to fall victim to burnout, experts say. (From traveling more, to shopping more, to fulfilling a number of holiday party engagements, the list of new tasks mounts from October through January.)

Kay Page Sullivan, a psychologist and trauma specialist based in Sarasota, agrees that risk for burnout spikes during our busiest times. “Most people have gotten caught up in the rush of today's world, so personal time in general for society is not a priority,” she said.

Ignored feelings of unrest can cause poor productivity at work and spur withdrawal from family and friends. And that can result in coworkers and family members becoming the target of a stressed person's wrath, she said.

Mental health professionals offer a simple solution to combat burnout and cope with extreme levels of stress: 1) Learn to prioritize, 2) demand personal time and 3) ask for help.

“We all need to develop stress-management skills,” said Kathryn Shea, executive vice president of the Florida Center for Child and Family Development, which provides life-management services for Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and DeSoto counties.

“It's not just about learning it (stress management), but practicing and incorporating it as part of your daily lifestyle,” said Shea, who has trained people to manage their stress for almost 20 years.

“We live in a society that's incredibly demanding, and the over- stimulation leads to stress and burnout,” she said. “You have to take time for yourself, get grounded and get centered so you can handle things better.”

For example, when Shea's office obligations get too hectic, she takes a 10-minute break from her desk to rejuvenate her mind so she can work more efficiently. This also sets an example for employees who see their supervisor taking a break, she said.

“It has to become a habit…(be) as committed to it as people are to smoking or watching sports,” Shea said. “It's about time management and making a plan.”

Blocking out subtle signs of stress and refusing to rest can lead to damaging, long-term ramifications: increased blood pressure, the onset of heart disease, bouts of depression and more.

So learn to curb your tendency to get stressed out and maximize your time through prioritizing tasks.

Get serious, order your tasks

Establishing a routine is a good way to create a sense of control over a hectic schedule.

Psychologist Ken Kinzie says one of the keys to successful stress management is to learn how to prioritize effectively. “The whole thing is about balance, between taking care of your own needs and taking care of everyone else,” said Kinzie, who's the director of the Employee Assistance Program, a counseling service that serves at least 20 businesses in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties.

People must learn to say “no,” and understand that they aren't being lazy if they need to take a break, Kinzie said.

“You can't be all family or all work,” he said.

Prioritizing also requires people to make a to-do list. Kinzie warned that people must avoid compiling a list with unrealistic expectations. Instead, set small tasks that lead to accomplishing bigger goals, and do the most difficult task first, Kinzie said.

“That way you're not letting it eat at you for the rest of the day. A list is to (help) prioritize, and say, 'These are the things I absolutely will spend my time on,'” he said. “And put yourself on there, too.”

Me, myself and I

Carving out personal time is the easiest way to cope with symptoms of burnout, but it's the hardest task for the average person to master, Kinzie said.

“It requires a person to have the self-esteem to know how to ask for permission to take care of themselves,” he said. “People are afraid to ask for that time because they think they will never get it and don't deserve it.”

Personal time should be completely void of all things related to work. Don't take your laptop on a long-awaited 10-day vacation, for example. Instead get someone to cover your duties while you're gone, or get your work done in advance so your mind is worry-free.

To fully benefit from a day off, schedule one free of activities with friends and without child-rearing responsibilities. Personal time is best spent by yourself, doing something you enjoy, Shea said. Take a yoga class, read a book, get pampered at a salon or take a cooking class.

Exercise is another simple way to relieve stress because physical activity releases endorphins in the brain. That natural secretion acts like a pain reliever to lift a person's mood and boost her energy level, Shea said.

“This is not just physical but emotional health as well,” she noted. And, “When we don't take care of ourselves, then we can't do anything else.”

“The ultimate goal is to see what we can change internally … (because) externally you have no power,” she said. “So, you have to have a strong self-esteem, (because) you can't change the outside (to) make everything OK.”

Seeking objective guidance

If a person finds himself unable to take a 20-minute break during the day and if maintaining a list just becomes an added stressor, Kinzie suggests getting help from a neutral source, such as a therapist.

A counselor can bring perspective to a person's problems – particularly for those who otherwise wouldn't notice burnout symptoms.

“People sometimes don't resolve past losses or angers, and they're hanging on to the emotional baggage,” Shea said.

Psychologists strongly suggest that people in the workplace pay attention to colleagues and notice red flags, such as a co- worker who brags about having worked extra hours or one who doesn't show up for work at all.

Supervisors also should beware of piling work responsibilities on employees who have indicated they're reaching their breaking point, said Lacher, who's also an EAP counselor.

Work-life assistance programs such as EAP, offered by employers as a benefit, provide confidential counseling to employees who might simply need to vent about frustrations.

Work-related stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than any other life stressor such as financial problems or family issues, the CDC reports.

Maggie Sumney, manager of employee relations for the city of Sarasota, says, “The objectivity (of an EAP counselor) gives perspective and allows people to really find the root cause of their issues.

”(The service is) not there just because you're ready to go nuts,“ she stressed. “But, it's there even when you're having financial problems.”

About 800 city employees have access to the EAP program. And it's available to their family members, Sumney said.

Area businesses and governments contract such counseling services to provide a resource for overworked and stressed-out employees. A report from the CDC finds that employers spend $300 billion, or $7,500 per employee, on health-care benefits because of increased stress-related medical claims. That includes a 50- percent increase in claims from employees who report stress as the source of their burnout.

During a routine assessment by any counselor, a therapist will help the patient look past surface anger. Having a strong sense of self and focusing on the internal is what helps a person cope with external pressures best, explained Lacher.

“You may have a spouse who is somehow bringing you down, or maybe even it's a child who's hindering your work process by having to deal with adolescence,” Sumney said.

For those who aren't provided counseling assistance as a benefit by their employers, they can seek help from Coastal Behavioral Healthcare in Sarasota. The nonprofit organization has 58 programs in 23 locations and offers its services to residents of Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, Charlotte, Lee and Hendry counties. It offers counseling on a sliding scale, or even at no cost.

“Our main focus is to serve the under-served or those who don't have insurance or have limited income,” said Christine Cauffield, the president and CEO of the organization.

Coastal Behavioral's walk-in clinics provide services that include everything from couples therapy to issuing prescriptions to patients when necessary following assessment.

The organization has seen a dramatic increase in patients since hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne hit Southwest Florida, Cauffield said.

“Many people (who) are holding down jobs are barely getting through the day,” Cauffield said. “They are two paychecks away from bankruptcy, managing the stresses of life with kids and relationships.

“And added stressors stretch those who already have healthy coping patterns,” she said.