Continuing last month’s presentation about anxiety management, March’s Mental Health Monday centered around identifying and combating burnout. Mental Health Monday is a monthly presentation sponsored by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah Valley University. The purpose of this series is to inform students and staff about the struggles they may be facing and provide them with the resources necessary to manage these problems. This month, Professors of Social Work, Dr. Melissa Hirschi and Dr. Kristen Lambert, answered the question of how to find relief from stress when the stressors do not go away.
Hirschi and Lambert referred to the book entitled “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” by Amelia and Emily Nagoski. They explained that the stress cycle begins when we face a stressor. In response to the stressor, we often have one of four reactions: fight, flight, freeze or fawn.
A ‘fight’ stress response is when one decides that the only way to face a stressor is to fight it head-on. In other cases, the best way to stay safe from a threat is to get away from it, which would be a ‘flight’ stress response. Although, while we often know it would be more effective to fight or fly, we sometimes have no choice but to freeze.
Dr. Lambert addressed the audience, asking if they had experienced an instant where they knew they should say or do something but could not bring themselves to. She then explained that this is a ‘freeze’ stress response, which occurs when one feels overwhelmed by a stressful situation. ‘Fawn’ is the latest addition to the more commonly known stress responses, which describes one attempting to appease a stressor. This can manifest as people-pleasing or agreeing to too many things than can be balanced. Stress responses are automatic, and we usually have no control over them.
Following a stressor and a stress response, the next stage in the stress cycle is stress accumulation. For many, the stress cycle ends here and is not followed through to completion. This is where burnout occurs.
As Dr. Hirschi revealed, our body does not recognize that a stressor has gone away in the same way that our mind understands this. Therefore, one must engage in an action that sends the message to their body that it is safe, therefore completing the stress cycle. Hirschi and Lambert provided a long list of activities that can complete the stress cycle: physical activity, deep breathing, laughing or crying, social connection, creative expression, etc.
Hirschi and Lambert countered a common misconception, claiming that the stressor does not have to go away for the stress cycle to be completed. One can experience relief while the stressor is still active by engaging in these activities. The problem is not often the stressor, but the fact that the stress cycle gets cut off at stress accumulation.
Some signs that one is stuck in this stage of the stress cycle include harmfully fidgeting with one’s body, engaging in self-destructive behavior, having exaggerated emotions or reactions, getting sick, etc. When one experiences these negative reactions, they must focus on completing the stress cycle. Stress is not necessarily bad but being stuck in the stress cycle is.
For more information about mental health struggles and how to cope with them, make sure to attend the next Mental Health Monday. To stay up to date about this event, follow @uvuchss on Instagram.
