Am I Burned Out? by Sherrie Bourg Carter
(Also see Dr. Bourg Carter's post on Burnout at Psychology Today) 
            Burnout has become such a familiar and overused term that it is common to hear people casually say, “I’m so burned out,” when they are having a bad day or week at work. However, for those who experience the actual condition, burnout is much more than a “bad day” or a “bad week” at work. It is a problem that significantly interferes with a person’s health, quality of life, and happiness.    

            Although “burnout” is not a medical diagnosis, most medical and mental health professionals are familiar with the signs and symptoms of professional burnout. Any physical symptoms, such as chest pains or difficulty breathing, should always be formally assessed by a physician. However, once all medical explanations are ruled out, an honest self-assessment of your overall functioning and productivity should be able to determine if you are experiencing burnout.

The first step is to ask yourself to what extent you fit the description of symptoms commonly associated with burnout. 

• Have you lost enjoyment for work or find yourself wishing you could escape it?
• Do you have physical symptoms, such as chest pains, shortness of breath, stomach pain, or heart palpitations, for which there are no medical explanations?
• Do you often skip meals or have little or no appetite?
• Do you find yourself feeling increasinly irritable, frustrated, angry, and/or emotionally hypersensitive at seemingly inconsequential things;
• Do you sometimes feel like you're having a panic attack?
• Do you get frequent headaches?
• Are you chronically fatigued?
• Do you feel helpless and hopeless much of the time?
• Is your productivity dropping despite long work hours?
• Do you have a lot of uncompleted projects despite the hours you work?
• Do you find yourself engaging in isolative behaviors, such as wanting to be alone, closing doors to prevent others from accessing you, being generally inaccessible, eating lunch alone, or being a poor team player?
• Do you sometimes feel trapped without options for relief or escape?
• Do you feel pessimistic concerning changing the situation?
• Are you missing a lot of work, showing up late, or not returning phone calls?
• Are you getting sick more often than usual?
• Have you lost your motivation?
• Are you more forgetfulness or lose your concentration and attention more than ever before?
• Do you find yourself engaging in a lot of negative and/or overly-critical self-talk?