If you have ever seen a building that is burned out you know it is a devastating sight. Sometimes, it is difficult to get a full picture of the desolation without going inside. People, like buildings, burn out in the same way. their shell may seem intact, but inside this is also desolation. Several years ago, when I was appointed Director of Staff Development of a large geropsychiatric facility in New York, I became well aware of the amount of burnout in our staff, and knew if we were to deliver high-level care to our patients, we would first have to deliver some high-level education to our staff. This included all staff from housekeeping, to nursing, dietary, and all levels of management. This program was awarded an "Outstanding Education Programs Award" by the State of New York.

In this article I thought to review some of the background to this program, including the mechanisms of going inside, evaluating the level of damage, and reviewing some of the tools for rebuilding and enhancing ourselves.

As managers of ourselves and other people, we need to be aware of smoldering embers, and how to prevent this from happening. It is important to become familiar, not only with the signs and symptoms of burnout, but also of the prodromals, the warning lights. These may not be the same for everyone.

Burnout is defined as the depleting of oneself; the exhausting of one’s physical and mental resource. It is to wear oneself out by excessive striving to reach some unrealistic expectation imposed by oneself, or by the values of society. It is a total mind/body experience, reflecting a wide variety of symptoms. Some very common ones include anxiety, panic, general uneasiness, inability to relax, sleep disorders, fatigue often leading to exhaustion,, high blood pressure, chronic pain including headaches, backaches, arrhythmia’s, emotional instability, depression, irritability, indecisiveness, inability to concentrate, PMS, cravings, loss of libido, and a host of chronic medical problems. Many of these lead to maladaptive coping mechanisms including the self-destructive behaviors of overworking, hyperactivity, procrastination, overeating and leading to substance dependency including drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine and food, especially high carbohydrates and fat. If there is no intervention, breakdown can occur which often shows itself as physical and psychological exhaustion, loss of drive, heart attack, cancer, and other disease states based on genetic predispositions.

While all people can burn out, some are more susceptible than others. Besides alleviating the burnout problem, the tools we utilize have the added advantages of increasing productivity, concentration, focusing, memory recall, and aid in accelerated learning. These tools target excellence; excellence without burnout.

Holistic Key #1: Managing Food Stress

The way to manage burnout is to avoid it. Therefore, everyone must be following a multi-faceted self disciplined plan. The first facet of the plan must be aimed at food stress. Most people pay very little attention to what they put into their bodies in the form of food or drink. In fact, most bodies don’t know what to expect. Sometimes they get breakfast, sometimes they don’t. Many days they are loaded with junk, and other days they are put on some sort of a diet. While many people are trying to eat healthier, research shows we still may be eating incorrectly for our own body needs. 75% of the population carry a gene known as Profactor H, or the caveman gene. This hereditary factor guides the way our body responds to certain foods, especially high carbohydrate foods, by over-producing the hormone insulin. Insulin is a fat-storer, and even if we do not have a problem with our weight, when we burn glucose instead of fat our mind and body are headed towards illness. If we are eating a diet too low in fat, and too high in carbohydrates the body will store all food as fat. If we have a tendency towards this Profactor, we need to be careful about which carbohydrates we chose, how often we eat them, and the amounts at each meal. We need to be aware of the balance between our intake of protein, fat and carbohydrates. Once the balance is in place, the body can start burning fat, which is the ideal biochemical state. It is also important to note that Profactor H is the underlying link to major killers including heart disease, adult onset diabetes, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, certain cancers including breast, ovary and uterus, and is a link to smoking, yo-yo weight gain, panic, anxiety and many other S&S of burnout.

Holistic Key #2: Interactive Self-Hypnosis

Working with Body Sensations, Thoughts and Emotions

The body communicates with us through our body feelings or sensations. Whenever we feel tension, that is an attempt of the body to let us know it is under physical stress. Most of us never pay any attention to this body communication, especially on low levels. We do pay lots of attention once the sensations begin screaming at us, such as in neck spasms, backache, indigestion, heart palpitations, dizziness, headaches, to name a few. Sometimes we notice our emotional instability and our inability to control these feelings such as anger, depression, impatience, intolerance, and judgment of ourselves and others. By this time the stress chemicals in the body are very high, and seriously interfering with our ability to function on all levels. We can learn to mange this by retraining the brain to release the stress chemicals on lower levels. This activity is done on a subconscious level.

"Interactive Self-Hypnosis" is a variety of techniques which put the person in charge of managing his own body chemistry. When we teach our brain to be aware and release low stressors, we do not need to be alerted. The brain becomes an excellent employee, doing it’s job for us. We can also train the brain to notice and release negative chemical producing thoughts and emotions which appear and which are not needed for our functioning at that time. These techniques are very powerful, and allow the mind to clear itself and be available for the work at hand.

Most people suffering from burnout, anxiety, panic, depression, sleep disorders, poor concentration, memory and pain have what is known as "run-away brain syndrome." The mind is continuously running all by itself with no guidance or direction. This is very stress-chemical producing, and a person in this chemical state has little chance of moving towards a worthwhile goal. They are basically caught in the stress cycle which is self-fulfilling. To make matters worse, the brain sees this "syndrome" as the goal, and works hard to keep it going. "Interactive Self-Hypnosis" utilizes sensory imaging techniques to move past obstacles or the perceived problem, and on to greener pastures. These techniques are health producing, as the body works to manufacture healing chemicals when the person places herself in this state. These chemicals actually boost the immune system, and work to reverse the disease process or burnout.

We know that 60-90% of disease processes are stress related. So, we could say that 60-90% of your health outcomes are up to you!