Executive Burnout

Addressing, Alleviating, and Preventing Professional Burnout

“A meticulously personalized approach offering scientifically rigorous methods in an atmosphere of refined exclusivity.”

For nearly 25 years, Privé-Swiss has been offering our “super achiever” clients a comprehensive treatment program for all aspects of burnout, including adrenal fatigue and other physical and functional issues. Our program serves the unique needs and challenges of the high profile client at the peak of their career who now feels exhausted, overwhelmed, depressed, and lacking the energy and motivation that had always been key drivers in life. The program is based on the belief that stress is a chronic, debilitating condition that affects all aspects of an individual’s life: psychological, emotional, physical, and spiritual – and is entirely treatable! We can get YOU back!

Our team of experts are available to provide a totally customized, comprehensive assessment with a treatment plan to get to the root of the issues, as well as alleviate the many challenging symptoms that may be present with severe executive or professional burn out.

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What Is Professional Burnout?

Burnout can best be defined as a major breakdown in the energy producing systems of the body. Burnout differs from simple fatigue in that one can recover from fatigue with a good night’s sleep or a vacation, whereas burnout cannot be corrected simply with rest.

Studies indicate that 3.5% of the U.S. population will experience PTSD in any given 12-month period, and almost 37% of these cases can be classified as “severe.” Although men are statistically more likely to experience traumatic events than women, women are more than twice as likely to develop PTSD than men, perhaps due to the fact that sexual assault leads to PTSD more frequently than do other forms of trauma, and women experience sexual assault at higher rates than men do.

At its core, burnout emerges when the demands of a job outstrip a person’s ability to cope with the stress. People in careers focused on caregiving — teachers, nurses, social workers, and physicians — report the most prevalent rates of burnout, but the condition ultimately doesn’t discriminate among call center representatives, professional athletes, actors, or CEOs. Over time, jobs that require too much of individuals will cultivate feelings of negativity and hopelessness as people struggle to meet impossible deadlines, deal with rude customers, or cope with the emotional toll of professional caretaking.

It is a common misconception that the culprit behind burnout is simply working too long or too hard — research indicates that other factors, both individual and organizational, can be just as detrimental. For example, a comprehensive report on psychosocial stress in the workplace published by the World Health Organization identified consistent evidence that “high job demands, low control, and effort–reward imbalance are risk factors for mental and physical health problems.” Ultimately, burnout results when the balance of deadlines, demands, working hours, and other stressors outstrips rewards, recognition, and relaxation.

Adrenal burnout syndrome

The most common complaints seen in doctors’ offices today include fatigue, depression, anxiety, allergies, digestive problems, insomnia, candida and hypoglycemia. These and many other symptoms can often be traced to a poorly understood syndrome, referred to as the adrenal burnout syndrome.

Adrenal fatigue is an increasingly common yet sometimes controversial diagnosis used to indicate depletion of the adrenal glands. Cortisol is a hormone released by the adrenals for use in the regulation of blood pressure. In response to stress, the adrenals release greater amounts of cortisol. Adrenal fatigue is thought to occur when the adrenals have become overtaxed by excess cortisol release and can no longer produce levels of cortisol necessary for optimal body function.

Your adrenal glands produce a variety of hormones that are essential to life. The medical term “adrenal insufficiency” refers to inadequate production of one or more of these hormones as a result of an underlying disease or surgery.

Signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency may include:

Fatigue
Body aches
Unexplained weight loss
Low blood pressure
Lightheadedness
Loss of body hair
Skin discoloration (hyperpigmentation)

Adrenal insufficiency can be diagnosed by blood tests and special stimulation tests that show inadequate levels of adrenal hormones.

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Signs and Symptoms of Burnout

Burnout can occur in varying degrees of severity. When burnout is severe, its effects are devastating for the individual and often for family and close associates. The principal physical symptom that initially identifies burnout is overwhelming fatigue upon awakening after eight to ten hours sleep or after a short nap. In short, the individual feels exhausted.

Depending upon how severe the burnout problem is, many other symptoms that may occur include:

Distaste for meat protein due to severely impaired digestion
Craving for sweets due to a need for a quick energy source
Lowered resistance to disease and/or chronic infections due to an impaired immune response
Changes in appetite, often alternating between a ravenous appetite and no appetite at all
Symptoms of hypoglycemia and/or diabetes due to decreased or increased glucocorticoid activity, respectively
Low blood pressure, and infrequently, a fast oxidizer will experience high blood pressure
Fluctuation in weight, due to excessive protein breakdown and increased fat deposition
Inability to adequately cope with daily life stresses
Reduced work performance
Loss of initiative and a sense of hopelessness
Disinterest in sex, due to an excessive fight-or-flight response
With worsening burnout, disinterest in all aspects of one’s life
Mental depression that can lead to despair and suicidal thoughts
Fears, phobias, agoraphobia and/or anxiety, due to an excessive fight-or-flight response
Disinterest in one’s appearance
Psychological withdrawal, due to an excessive fight-or-flight response
Feeling that one’s life is empty and lacks purpose
Inability to concentrate or spaciness
Attraction to stimulants, leading to a wide variety of addictions
In children: Hyperactivity, behavioral disorders, attention deficit, and failure to thrive syndrome in severe cases
In teenagers: Delinquency, drugs, alcoholism and suicidal thoughts

The adrenals, located at the top of each of the kidneys, release hormones including adrenaline and cortisol (the long-term stress hormone).

Adrenal exhaustion can result when we try to do too much in too little time and don’t allow sufficient space in our schedules for essential relaxation, restful sleep and the time to eat healthy foods. “When faced with chronic stress, your body shifts from making adrenaline to cortisol. Adrenal burnout occurs when you lose your ability to make protective cortisol which leads to exhaustion and fatigue. … A person may awake feeling tired even after sleeping eight or more hours. He or she may not feel completely awake until later in the morning or after consuming caffeine. Then energy levels dip during the afternoon, but the person may get a second wind between 6pm to 11pm, and won’t feel tired enough for sleep until much later.”¹

Common symptoms include tiredness, weakness, listlessness, caffeine, sugar and salt cravings, and low blood pressure and light-headedness when standing up. Irritability, nervousness and low mood as well as feeling unusually cold, stomach cramps and nausea can also be signs of adrenal burnout.

It is critical to realize that all the above symptoms are related to a severe energy deficit. Many of the above symptoms represent various adaptations to burnout. That is, the person is compensating for his lack of energy by changing his behavior. One may be attracted to various stimulants and/or drugs, to relieve his depression and provide him with a semblance of feeling alive and well.

View our article: Powerful Business Leaders Need Help, Too

Treatment for Executive and Professional Burnout

For over 25 years, the Privé-Swiss Clarity Executive Program has been successful with offering a comprehensive treatment program for all aspects of burnout and adrenal fatigue. Our program is based on the belief that stress is a chronic, debilitating condition that affects all aspects of an individual’s life: psychological, emotional, physical, and spiritual.

Contact us today to set up a phone consultation on the many interventions and services we offer to individuals struggling with this multi-faceted health challenge.

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