Cool tips when you’re burned out

Dear Dr. Jao,

Just call me Smiley. That’s what my co-workers call me because of my "close-up smile." I’m a 27-year-old physical therapist. A lot of the patients I’ve worked with have told me they liked me because I’m always in a pleasant mood. I’ve been working in a medical center in Metro Manila for the past five years. My work involves doing physical therapy mostly for patients who have suffered strokes. Some of them are really difficult to deal with. Lately, I noticed that I’ve become irritable with the patients and even with the people at the workplace. Some of my co-workers are sometimes like me. They sometimes have hours of irritability. There are times I want to shift to another job. What should I do?

More power!

Sincerely yours,
Smiley

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First of all, thank you, Smiley for your letter. You know, what you’re experiencing is the Burned-out Syndrome. Don’t be alarmed. This can happen to other health workers (including doctors) and other professionals in the workplace.

The Burned-out Syndrome occurs when an individual is unable to cope with the day-to-day stressors at the workplace. He then becomes uninterested and irritable and thus ineffective in delivering the expected quality of service or work. I’ve seen this happen to health workers dealing with patients who require almost constant attention like those assigned to specialized units of the hospital, i.e., those going on duty at the intensive care unit, dialysis unit, stroke unit, rehabilitation and cancer units.

I know the difficulty encountered by physical therapists assigned to do exercises with stroke patients. I have two post-stroke family members, my mom and younger sister. You’ve got to have a lot of patience in dealing with them since a lot of post-stroke patients are depressed because of their sudden loss or decrease in function. Hence, they tend to be irritable towards the physical therapist and to the rest of the medical staff handling them. Their anger, which stems from their helplessness, is displaced towards their care-givers and family members. Such patients become all the more difficult to deal with if their families are not emotionally supportive. These patients become demanding, martyr-like and passive-aggressive. They will communicate solely through a litany of bodily and emotional complaints and disappointments. Working with such difficult post-stroke patients morning and afternoon daily is indeed a tough job which requires a lot of dedication.

Smiley, you need a break, a time to relax from your daily routine. Engage in relaxing activities during your weekends. Go on outings with your family or friends. Eat out or go see a movie. Go to the gym. Physical exercise can also be relaxing. Have a massage. Pamper yourself. Go shopping or malling. Some people find listening to classical music quite relaxing. Me? I relax by going out with my amigas and our children to discos and listen to our favorite live bands like the Retrospect, Rage and Wiseguys. You need time to have some fun and regress a little. However, Smiley, you will also need to ventilate your feelings and frustrations at your workplace. Why don’t you talk about them with your co-workers or with your immediate supervisor or boss? Or you can also talk to the psychiatrist or psychologist in your medical center.

You know, Smiley, trained professionals must also learn to confront, resolve, and incorporate many significant issues at the workplace. There’s a need to balance compassionate concern with dispassionate objectivity. There’s also a need to accept the limitations of what one can realistically accomplish. Inability to balance such issues can make one feel overwhelmed, depressed and burned out. When a sense of futility and failure begins to set in, there’s a danger of sparking off the stage for anger and frustration about one’s profession, the people at the workplace and one’s self.

A brief type of therapy, crisis intervention (stress debriefing) is aimed at helping persons with adjustment problems like Burned-out Syndrome resolve their specific situations by supportive techniques, relaxation techniques like breathing exercises, suggestions, reassurance, environmental manipulation or even hospitalization. A psychiatrist or psychologist can do stress debriefing for you, Smiley, and the other physical therapists in your center. Just approach your boss first. I’m sure he or she would be very open to having a stress management intervention for you guys.

I hope you’ll be back to your ever-smiling self again soon, Smiley.

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Thank you, Allan H.O. for your very long letter and insights about handling the disclosure of one’s sexual orientation to the nuclear family members and for your enclosed photograph. When I opened your letter and saw your picture, for a moment, I thought it was that of Troy Montero. To my long lost friend, Cynthia Sycip, please get in touch with me at tel. no. 633-38-93.

(If you have other problems, particularly about love, looks, and relationships, that you would want me to discuss in this column, send your letters to The Philippine STAR c/o Allure Section or send them directly to Suite 506 Medico Bldg., Lourdes Street cor. San Miguel Avenue, Pasig; fax no. 631-3877.)