Battling Burnout: 3 Types of Burnout and Coping Strategies

In today’s demanding world, the line between hard work and burnout is becoming increasingly blurred. It’s more than just feeling tired; it’s a state of deep emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress.

Your journey toward a more balanced and fulfilling life starts with understanding burnout symptoms and prevention. Read on to learn about the types of burnout and the coping strategies that can help you heal.

What Is Burnout?

Burnout happens when long-term stress leaves you feeling completely exhausted in every way: emotionally, physically, and mentally. You feel overwhelmed, drained, and can’t keep up with the demands placed on you. This condition can leave you feeling cynical about your work, detached from others, and doubtful of your abilities.

It’s important to remember that burnout doesn’t only happen in the workplace. Burnout among college students is a growing issue as well. Students can struggle with burnout symptoms just as working professionals can, leading to issues in their social and academic lives.

Burnout Symptoms

Before we dive into different types of burnout and coping strategies, it’s important to recognize the warning signs as the first, crucial step toward recovery. Below, we’ve outlined common physical, emotional, and behavioral burnout symptoms to help you identify and prevent burnout from taking hold.

Physical Burnout Symptoms

• Feeling tired and drained most of the time.
• Lowered immunity sometimes leading to frequent illnesses.
• Frequent headaches or muscle pain.
• Change in appetite or sleep habits.

Emotional Burnout Symptoms

• Sense of failure and self-doubt.
• Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated.
• Feeling alone in the world or detached from yourself.
• Loss of motivation.
• Increasingly cynical and negative outlook.
• Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.

Behavioral Burnout Symptoms

• Withdrawing from responsibilities.
• Isolating from others.
• Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done.
• Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope.
• Taking frustrations out on others.
• Skipping work or coming in late, and leaving early.

3 Types of Burnout and Coping Strategies

The ongoing stress of burnout makes you lose the excitement you once had for your work or school. It drains your energy, makes you less productive, and can leave you feeling hopeless and bitter.

Since burnout affects your home and social life and can even make you get sick more often, it’s important to deal with it as soon as possible. The following section will break down the three most common types of burnout and coping strategies you can use to improve your mental health and well-being.

1. Overload Burnout

Working too hard and too fast to get ahead can lead to what’s known as overload burnout. This is the most familiar type of burnout, where your health and personal life suffer. It usually affects very committed people who feel they have to work at a pace they can’t maintain, leading to total exhaustion.

What to look out for:

• Are you overlooking your own needs or personal life to fulfill work or school demands?
• Do you invest more than is healthy in your commitment to your career or ambitions?
• Are you endangering your well-being to achieve your goals?

How to Cope:

• Acknowledge and process your emotions instead of ignoring them.
• Challenge and reframe negative thoughts.
• Recognize that rest is essential.
• Avoid excessive emotional investment in your job or school work by creating healthy boundaries.
• Invest time and energy in other life roles.
• Engage in hobbies and activities outside of work and school that contribute to your sense of well-being and identity.

2. Under-Challenged Burnout

It might seem strange, but you can get burned out by not having enough to do. This is called under-challenged burnout, and it’s the opposite of being overworked. It happens when your job or school work is boring and doesn’t motivate you. This might mean feeling unappreciated or stuck because there’s no chance to learn or grow, leading you to lose interest and become cynical.

What to look out for:

• Would you like to work on assignments and tasks that are more challenging?
• Do you feel your job or school work does not offer you opportunities to develop your abilities?
• Do you feel that your current role is keeping you from advancing and developing your talents?

How to Cope:

• Lower the pressure on yourself by simply following what interests you.
• Set manageable goals to boost your motivation.
• Start with small time commitments.
• Take time to enjoy something fun and meaningful to create positive momentum that spills over into your professional life.
• Identify which tasks energize you by tracking your work and school activities and how they make you feel.
• Focus on making incremental changes in your job and school activities that align with your passions and skills.

3. Neglect Burnout

The third type of burnout is called neglect burnout. This happens when you feel helpless because you don’t get enough direction or support at your job or in school. You might feel like you can’t keep up with what’s asked of you, which can make you feel frustrated and like you’re not good enough. Over time, people in this situation may stop trying to fix problems, feeling like nothing they do will make a difference — this is called learned helplessness.

What to look out for:

• Do you stop trying when work or school situations don’t go as planned?
• Do you give up in response to the obstacles or setbacks you face at work or school?
• Do you feel demoralized when you get up in the morning and have to face another day at work or school?

How to Cope:

• Identify tasks you can remove from your responsibilities.
• Actively look for opportunities to outsource, delegate, or delay non-essential tasks.
• Learn to say “no” to new obligations and establish stronger professional boundaries.
• Initiate a conversation about your current workload and priorities.
• Prioritize and be assertive about your self-care routines outside of work and school hours.
• Establish grounding rituals that provide a sense of predictability and stability.

Burnout Recovery Tips

Once burnout takes hold, it can feel like a permanent state of exhaustion and detachment. The passion you once had for your work or school may seem like a distant memory, replaced by cynicism and a sense of ineffectiveness. But even from this place of deep fatigue and stress, recovery is entirely possible.

The journey back to well-being isn’t about “powering through”; it’s about taking intentional, gentle steps to heal and reset. This guide is designed to be your starting point, offering practical tips and mental health support for burnout to help you reclaim your energy, restore your perspective, and find your way back to a balanced and fulfilling life.

Acknowledge the Issue

The first, and arguably most important, burnout recovery tip is recognizing that you are burnt out in the first place. Oftentimes, we don’t want to admit that we have too much on our plate, but once we do, we can begin working on prioritizing the things that matter most and eliminating responsibilities or tasks that aren’t helping us grow.

Prioritize Self-Care

Focusing on your physical health is a crucial step in managing workplace burnout. This means getting adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and exercising regularly. When we take care of ourselves physically translates into improving our overall mental wellness. Furthermore, making time for yourself, practicing mindfulness, and staying connected with friends and family can help improve your emotional and mental health.

Create Distance

Sometimes, the best burnout recovery tip is allowing yourself space. If possible, take a break from the situations or environments that are causing you stress. This doesn’t have to be a two-week vacation; even simply taking an afternoon or a day off can go a long way in preventing and managing workplace burnout.

Reflect and Realign

Identifying the causes of your burnout plays a key role in battling it and preventing it from happening again. To do this, ask yourself if your life and work align with your personal values and think about what brings you joy. Then, make concrete changes to implement these things into your daily life and reduce the main causes of your stress. This might involve altering your job, seeking help with responsibilities, or changing your daily habits.

To effectively manage burnout, consider combining the burnout recovery tips above with therapy. A mental health professional can help you identify your personal triggers, build coping skills, and find new ways to prioritize your mental well-being.

If you or someone you know is seeking mental health treatment, get in touch with our team by calling us at 610-480-8919. An experienced clinician is available 24/7 to assist you with treatment options.