When people are highly stressed for prolonged periods of time, they can sometimes experience a state known as burnout, characterized by pronounced emotional, mental and physical exhaustion. The stressors leading to burnout could be personal, such as family conflicts or the end of a relationship, as well as academic or professional, such as studying a lot for exams or working long hours while taking very few breaks or vacations.
When people are highly stressed for prolonged periods of time, they can sometimes experience a state known as burnout, characterized by pronounced emotional, mental and physical exhaustion. The stressors leading to burnout could be personal, such as family conflicts or the end of a relationship, as well as academic or professional, such as studying a lot for exams or working long hours while taking very few breaks or vacations.
Individuals who are experiencing burnout typically find it difficult to concentrate on their everyday activities, can take longer to complete tasks or might feel that they are not performing as well at work or school. While burnout is fairly common, it can be very debilitating for some. Understanding the factors driving its emergence could help to devise more effective prevention strategies or interventions designed to help people get back to their baseline energy levels and efficiency.
Researchers at Bielefeld University recently carried out a study aimed at exploring the relationship between burnout, self-esteem and repetitive negative thinking, the tendency to frequently think about stressful or distressing topics. Their findings, published in Communications Psychology, suggest that a lower self-esteem is linked to greater feelings of burnout and negative thinking patterns mediate this relationship.
„Low self-esteem and repetitive negative thinking are associated with higher burnout risk among university students at the between-person level“, wrote Malin Brueckmann, Justin Hachenberger and their colleagues in their paper.
