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Burnout

Hello!


I hope that spring break was good and that you feel ready to attack the end of the year!


Today, I wanted to talk to you about a subject that is very close to my heart: burnout. I had to do a work on the subject this semester (25% of new teachers in Quebec leave the profession after 5 years, according to a study of the Interuniversity Research Center on Teachers). This work was really interesting, because I learned more about the causes of exhaustion, but also about how to avoid it. Since it is not only teachers who might go throught burnout, I thought I could share the strategies I learned by doing my research. Because even when you try to do everything, basically you have to know how to create a carapace.


P.S. Yes, I will reference, because intellectual property is important!



What is a burnout?


You can notice a burnout thanks to several symptoms, such as chronic stress, permanent fatigue, lack of pleasure, excessive demands, idealizing perfection ... (Durruty, 2015) It's a bit like trying to do everything until the body and the mind can no longer hold it together.


The 3 types of stress

The first form is the stress of escape. This state is gradual: it goes from a hassle to panic through agitation and fear. When an unforeseen event occurs, it is this state that takes over calm. You feel febrile, uncomfortable, panicked, etc. (Durruty, 2015)


The second form is the fight stress. Unlike the stress of escape, whose main emotion is fear, the main emotion of fight stress is anger. This stress is graded from susceptibility to rage. The fight stress allows the person to impose a limit, to not be dominated (or to have that impression). You feel annoyed, aggressive, impatient ... (Durruty, 2015)


Finally, there is the stress of inhibition, whose central emotion is sadness. This stress is graded from sigh to despair. It causes fatigue and demotivation: it is a feeling of emptiness. You feel abandoned, paralyzed, discouraged ... (Durruty, 2015)


How to protect yourself from the harmful consequences of stress?


Being resilient is essential! Resilience is an "ability to cope successfully with a situation of intense stress because of its harmfulness or risk, as well as to recover, adapt and succeed in living and to develop positively in spite of these unfavorable circumstances "(Multidictionnaire, de la langue française, 2009). But the real issue is how to be resilient? In the short term, coping strategies can be used. There are three main ones (Grebot, 2008):


1. Focusing on the problem (trying to control or change the situation: act instead of suffering from the situation)


2. Focus on emotion (try to control or modify the negative emotion caused by the situation: walk, meditate, relativize, keep calm ...)


3. Centered on the search for social support (possible help provided by the entourage)


Also, to be able to manage stress, it is necessary to be able to identify your symptoms, to stop for a moment while feeling the emotion related to one of the 3 main types. Before you can do anything, you have to be aware of your susceptibility to stress. Actually, one way of protecting yourself from the negative effects of stress is to reduce your susceptibility to it (Durruty, 2015). To do that, you have to accept reality as it is. Without being fatalistic, it is necessary to see a situation as a whole and try to get the best out of it to improve the negative points, instead of seeing only the bad things (Durruty, 2015). Then you can prepare for failure. Being aware that failure is a possibility makes it more likely to be ready to face and recover from it (Durruty, 2015). Yeah, maybe you're going to fail. Or not. You just have to do your best. Also, having a support network reduces work-related stress. The blog community is great for that! By the way, you can write me on Facebook or on Twitter (or even by mail) and it will make me happy to talk!


You can also use the adaptive system, which is based on 6 pillars (Durruty, 2015):


Curiosity: to recognize the signs of stress


Acceptance: accepting facts (fatigue, emotions, chronic stress ...) to notice the frequency of symptoms.


The nuance: to distinguish between what is urgent and important, notice when tasks become too big and learn to say no.


Relativity: to better discern a situation by taking a step back.


Reflection: making cause-consequences associations, asking yourself questions about how to act.


Personal opinion: to choose what makes sense for you.


I hope these solutions will help a little! :) Do you have any personal tips to manage stress?


xoxo


Camille Élisabeth


De Villers, M-E. (2009). Résilience. Multidictionnaire de la langue française. (p.1418). Montréal : Québec Amérique Inc.

Djament-Tran, G. Le Blanc, A. L’homme, S. Rufat, S. ReghezzaZitt, M. (2012). Ce que la résilience n’est pas, ce qu’on veut lui faire dire. HAL.

Durruty, B. (2015). Vivement lundi!. Montréal : Les Éditions de L’Homme

Froese-Germain, B. (2014). L’équilibre travail-vie et la profession enseignante au Canada. Repéré à: https://www.ctf-fce.ca/Research-Library/ÉquilibreTravail- VieProfessionEnseignante.pdf

Grebot, É. (2008). Stress et burnout au travail. Paris : Eyrolles

Limage, V. (2015). De jeunes enseignants abandonnent le métier : témoignage d'une ex-enseignante. Repéré à: http://ici.radio- canada.ca/nouvelle/744264/enseignante-abandon-temoignage-abitibi- temiscamingue

Manciaux, M. (2001). La résilience. Un regard qui fait vivre. (395). 321-330. Repéré à: http://www.cairn.info/revue-etudes-2001-10-page-321.html

Neville, H. Clark Johnson, D. (2015). Chacun son tempérament (1er éd.). JCLattès.

Radio-Canada. (2010). La détresse des enseignants. Repéré à: http://ici.radiocanada.ca/nouvelle/463148/enseignants-anxiete-etude

Radio-Canada. (2016). Le stress des enseignants se répercute sur les élèves, selon une étude. Repéré à: http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/789976/etude- ubc-stress-enseignants-eleves

Zacharyas, C. et Brunet, L. (2016). Mieux saisir la résilience chez les enseignants : étude longitudinale d'un processus non linéaire. Repéré à: http://ripph.qc.ca/fr/revue/journal-19-01-2011-29


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