Issue 1/2009
News
Marking the beginning of the year
At the beginning of the new year which all readers hopefully have started very rested we would like to reflect on the widely knwon "burn-out" phenomenon which has been on erveryone´s lips and a topic often exploited by the media in the past few monts.
At the end of 2011 even the federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs declared war on this phenomenon with the help of the law on health and safety at work.
The "Health-Report" prepared by the Association of Company Health Insurance Plans here in Germany reveals that in recent years psychic disturbances have accounted for continuously increasing share of sick leave and disability retirement. The amount of work time lost due to psychological problems, in relation to sick leave as a whole, has risen steadily from year to year. burnout is indeed a well known phenomenon, but the syndrome has yet to be clearly defined as a disorder and has yet to be assigned its own code in the International Classification of Diseases. The number of days off work due to this diagnosis has noetheless constantly risen since 2004.
Accelerating dynamics are among the most significant changes in the modern world of work. But the outcome may not be that companies "overspeed" - where the employees and the firm´s own capacities are permanently overtaxed.
Burnout may be that final state in a line of development that began with idealistic enthusiam, which then led through a frustration phase, and on to the point od disillusionment and apathy. Performance collapses and the abiliy to work may be restricted for month on end. Inpatient treatment is often indispensable. Psychotropic medications can usually treat the symptoms fairly quickly, but they do not eliminate the patterns that triggered the breakdown. Patients often feel as though they are "paralyzed".
We can only hope that the specialists in the fields of occupational health and safety will find the means and the ends needed to effectively counteract this phenomenon.
