Another work burnout. What next? how did you deal with yours?

[Greenartywitch]

Posted in Work as well.

Would love to hear from others who have experienced this.

I am on the autism spectrum with a history of depression which I declared with HR. A year and a half ago I had a complete mental and physical breakdown with suicidal ideation, in part due to a chaotic and unsupportive work environment, and went back to work after less than 2 months which I think was too soon. Manager was awful when I came back until Occupational Health and HR got involved.

In the past month I have started to again feel exhausted to the point of needing to sleep several hours in the afternoon just to try to cope with normal activities, feeling faint, lots of stomach issues and anxiety...

I have been off sick since Monday. Manager sent me a curt email this morning when I checked in again to say I was still unwell.

I am planning on seeing my GP next week and getting signed off for another week at least to avoid reaching crisis point this time. But obviously this is not a long term solution.

Could anyone who has been in my situation give some advice/insight on how you dealt with this type of burnout? I am already on anti depressants, had therapy after my breakdown last year and have done everything I could to exercise regularly and do some daily meditation but still could not avoid another burnout... so I am really rather despondent at the moment.

I am worried that my sickness record will also affect my ability to find a new job, as the obvious solution is to get myself out of my current job.

There's quite a lot to unpack here.

Do you generally like your manager/your job/the org now, or is it still chaotic/unsupportive?

I have adhd/possibly asd and have had burnout, resulting in some time off and breaks.

My number one advice is that time has to be off i.e. completely switched off from thinking about work - doing nothing if that's what is needed, exercise, sleep, nutrition, plans to see friends, GP support.

Second advice is to take a block of time to recover. My GP said that a week or two is rarely long enough as you are already worrying about going back (although need to factor in that some employers arent as understanding and that can cause more stress to take longer off), so a month is usually better. Plus dealing with any issues before you go back through OH if needed.

I schedule my annual leave for the whole year now so I know when breaks are coming and don't find myself with long breaks. Also scheduling to take some leave after periods of stress. Illness obviously can't be avoided so taking proper time off if I get cold, not just one day and rushing to go back.

I can now generally recognise signs of stress - feeling sick, worry, migraine, overthinking - and will get more sleep, give myself some grace to get the essentials done and accept that's all that I can manage for a few days, pare back my diary, and if needed talk to my manager to go over priorities. Also don't blame yourself too much - this is a very ND trait which I did for years! It might be worth looking at Access to Work - I had some neurodiversity coaching through A2W which was very useful.

Sickness absences more than a year ago aren't generally too much of an issue, and if you can give context as to why they aren't a likely reoccurrence that is helpful.

@LogicalBlodge Thank you for commenting.

No, I don't like the organisation at all and never got close to anyone in the team because there is a lot of back stabbing/lying unfortunately and I have zero trust in my manager.

I agree that it does take time to recover and I am planning to speak to my GP next week to that effect to take more time off.