'Student Burnout': How to Prevent and Cope with It

Burnout syndrome is a very serious condition that is good to know in order to prevent it or recognize its symptoms in ourselves and others.

What is burnout?

Although we can't stop hearing the term now, this syndrome has been known since 1974, when it was identified by the American psychologist Herbert Freudenbergen. The WHO recognized it as a disease in 2019 and it has already entered the diagnostic manual ICD-10 at the beginning of this 2022. Burnout consists essentially of "burning out" for a variety of causes, among which sustained stress stands out. That is, due to a series of characteristics of the degree we are studying, combined with our personal characteristics and high levels of stress sustained over a long period of time, there may come a time when "our fuses blow". Studying is a wonderful activity that will be very useful for our lives and the development of our personality. Achieving an eTítulo and the position of our dreams is a tremendous privilege, but nothing deserves that we seriously endanger our mental health; therefore, before facing situations for which we will pay too high a price, we must rethink our strategy.

What are the symptoms?

Varied and bad. We must bear in mind that burnout occurs when we have ignored all the previous signals and have subjected our body to such brutal wear and tear that it is no longer sustainable. Therefore, its symptoms range from hair loss to heart attack, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, poor ability to concentrate, aggression, insomnia, tachycardia... Psychologists Christina Maslach and Susan E. Jackson define this syndrome as a psychosocial phenomenon that is composed of three dimensions:

1. Emotional exhaustion: this first dimension is the key to the syndrome and is characterized by a general feeling of lack of energy, emotional exhaustion, and a lack of enthusiasm and resources.


2. Depersonalization: it implies negative attitudes, deterioration in interpersonal relationships, cynicism, depersonalization of colleagues, lack of effectiveness, and communication problems.


3. Lack of personal accomplishment: tendency to evaluate oneself negatively and dissatisfaction with one's way of approaching studies or carrying out related activities. Frustration and decreased self-esteem.

It is important to bear in mind that this syndrome acts progressively, so the sooner we take measures to prevent it or stop it when it gives its first signals, the better.

Prevention of burnout

The first thing we must understand in order to prevent anything is why, in the face of the same stressors (a highly demanding university degree, for example), some people develop problems and others do not. If we know what the protective factors are (which help prevent the syndrome) and the precipitating factors (those that facilitate its appearance), we will know what we must enhance and what we must work on in ourselves. In relation to burnout, the protective factors would be having good stress management, a realistic level of self-demand, good communication skills, high emotional intelligence, a strong support network, real knowledge of our abilities, realistic short, medium, and long-term goals, and a good system for organizing and planning tasks. The precipitating factors, obviously, will be the opposite of the protective factors and indicate what we must work on to prevent the appearance of burnout or other syndromes. In this way, if we see that what fails us is, for example, stress management, we will know that it is precisely there that we must focus and seek help to improve that skill.

Treatment of burnout

A thorough final degree project carried out at the University of the Basque Country by the then student Andrea Ortiz de Mendívil Gaya, on the prevention of the syndrome in nursing students, yielded interesting results in the statistical study: "The psychosocial therapies studied, including mindfulness, commitment and acceptance, and resilience training, have achieved a statistically significant decrease in the perceived stress level and/or burnout syndrome, as well as improvements in different personality traits, which in turn are relevant in preventing burnout." As this study says, therapies work. Prevention and personal work, too. If our stress level starts to become constant and some of the described symptoms start to sound familiar, it is time to seek help from specialized professionals. As we said before, a title is not worth as much as our mental health, but there is no need to give up on our dreams. If we see that stress overwhelms us, we can look for solutions such as therapy or sacrifice a year to improve certain skills and resume our studies later with renewed strength.