Understanding burnout, vicarious trauma, and the power of curiosity

Is burnout just a synonym for exhaustion? Does everyone experience trauma? In this post we'll talk about what burnout, trauma, and vicarious trauma actually mean, the power of curiosity as a self-protective tool, plus other resources you can access if you resonate with these definitions.

Burnout: More than just exhaustion

Burnout is a mental, emotional, and physical condition characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and a sense of inefficacy. While many associate burnout with personal failure or weakness, it is crucial to understand that burnout is directly tied to a person’s work environment.

In 2019, the World Health Organization officially recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon, distinguishing it from other mental health conditions. This means that burnout can happen to anyone, and the biggest contributing factors are often external. Research has identified six key workplace factors that underlie most cases of burnout:

• Work overload
• Lack of control
• Insufficient rewards
• Breakdown in community
• Lack of fairness
• Values conflict

If you are currently experiencing burnout, consider reflecting on which of these factors are contributing most to your situation. Recognizing these patterns can help you take steps toward change. If this resonates with you, discussing it with a therapist or doctor can be a helpful step in finding personalized strategies to manage burnout.

What is trauma?

Trauma refers to an emotional response to a distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms the nervous system’s ability to cope. This can lead to feelings of helplessness, fear, or horror. Trauma can be experienced firsthand or indirectly through witnessing the suffering of others—known as vicarious trauma.

When trauma responses persist, they can manifest in various ways, including:

• Intrusive symptoms: nightmares, flashbacks, and distressing thoughts or memories.
• Avoidance symptoms: actively avoiding thoughts, feelings, memories, places, or people associated with the traumatic event.
• Hyperarousal symptoms: hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, irritability, or feeling constantly on edge, often disrupting sleep and relaxation.

Vicarious trauma is just as real as direct trauma. If you recognize these symptoms in yourself, know that help is available, and seeking support is a vital step toward healing.

Curiosity: A tool for protecting against burnout and vicarious trauma

In my workshops on burnout and vicarious trauma, one of the most important strategies I emphasize is the power of curiosity.

There are two common approaches to empathy that helpers use:

• Imagine-Self Perspective-Taking (ISPT): This is the classic "walk a mile in their shoes" approach, where we try to put ourselves in another person’s situation and imagine how we would feel. While well-intentioned, this method can contribute to burnout, as constantly envisioning distressing scenarios happening to oneself takes a toll on the nervous system.
• Imagine-Other Perspective-Taking (IOPT): This approach is rooted in curiosity. Rather than assuming we know how someone feels, we observe, infer, and ask questions. This approach not only reduces emotional exhaustion but also leads to a more accurate understanding of others' experiences.
  

Research suggests that people using the first approach—imagining themselves in someone else’s shoes—are more likely to misinterpret emotions due to the limits of their own experiences. By contrast, engaging in curiosity allows us to better support others while maintaining our own well-being.

So, if you find yourself deeply absorbing your client’s experiences as if they were your own, take a breath, lean back, and engage your curiosity. This simple shift can make a profound difference in preventing burnout and fostering resilience in your work.

Resources to support you

In addition to reaching out to a mental health professional, over the years I have made available different tools to help support your mental health.

On burnout:

• Prevent burnout is a free worksheet with questions to help you recognize burnout in yourself, tune into your self-care needs, and take actionable steps.
• How to prevent burnout is a short, self-paced online course for workers and social change makers that offers you 4 steps to recognize the signs, understand the causes, listen to yourself and set boundaries.

On trauma and vicarious trauma:

• Healing trauma toolkit is a free guide with a few strategies to help you support your resilience on your journey to healing trauma.
• How to prevent vicarious trauma is a short, self-paced online course that offers 5 foundational tools to protect yourself.

For caregivers and helping professionals:

• Recognize your limits is a free worksheet to help you take stock of your own capacity by helping you map out what you’re willing and able to do.
• Vicarious trauma & burnout is a free manual I wrote for United Cultures of Canada Association to support settlement workers and volunteers who assist newcomers.
• Big-hearted boundaries is an 8-week, self-paced program to help bring joy and life energy into your work by making embodied decisions that are in line with your values.

For therapists:

• Reflective practice for new clinicians is a free worksheet you can use to guide you in self-reflection, focusing on your experiences, challenges, and emotions since your last meeting with your supervisor.
• The boundaried therapist: Sustaining yourself in the counselling profession is the book I wrote to support you in setting boundaries from a somatic and feminist approach, so you can build and sustain a long and vibrant career in counselling.

Please remember that none of these tools are designed to replace the therapeutic process.