Burnout and stress are two problems which are linked close together. What is the difference between them? When does someone have burnout and when do they have stress? This article summarizes the most important elements of both problems and explains the difference.
Burnout? When is it worse than stress?
When we speak of burnout, this means that you have crossed a line. You have no energy left and anything you do requires a lot of effort. Effort which you are not able to give at the moment. It is true that burnout develops from stress. Burnout is namely a more serious form of stress. Burnout often develops from stress at work, eventually combined with stress in other parts of life. Yet, burnout is so much more than just stress. Stress is not alone at the basis of burnout. Perfectionism, being too involved, not being able to let things go,... can also help cause the development of a burnout. In a burnout, these factors often interact with each other, and make it so that the fatigue and stress keep adding up until it all becomes too much.
Stress? When is it not yet pathological?
Not all types of stress are sure to lead to the development of a burnout. It is, as mentioned before, true that stress lies at the basis of burnout and that treatment often looks into reducing this stress. A lot depends on how you deal with this stress. It can namely be so that you experience a lot of stress in a period, but once you get home, this stress is gone. Then the chances of developing a burnout are a lot smaller. Or there are people who turn stress into positive performance at work. They will need stress to deliver the best work. Only if you take your stress with you everywhere in your mind and cannot let go of your work, chances of burnout developing increase.
15 Minutes 4 Me
15 Minutes 4 Me offers an online self-help program against both burnout and stress. You can namely choose to get rid of stress before it starts to develop into a burnout. At the hand of this program, you work with yourself for fifteen minutes per day. You get modules with solution focused questions and videos, which help you to gain new insights. At the hand of 15 Minutes 4 Me, stress can reduce by up to 77% after one month!
I want to test if I have stress or a burnout
This is something which you can do at the hand of our free burnout test, which also measures your level of stress. You fill out about twenty questions. Then you are sent to a page with your score and the interpretation thereof.
