Everyone’s journey using hypnotherapy for burnout is likely to be different. This is because the factors which led to that burnout will vary substantially from person to person and may involved;
- Work – Hours worked, co-worker and boss attitude, type of work.
- Carer burden – Both physical effort and mental burden.
- Debt and other long-term stressors – Debt is the most common one but there are many persisitent stressors which work away at people.
- Life stage – Biological age, social status and situation as well as life experience.
- Available resources – The gap between someone’s financial need and their income is likely to affect their flexibility.
- Stage of burnout – Some people catch themselves as they are burning out, others once burnt out and some not until they have moved into a state of depression.
- Biology – Factors of biology which may be inborn or have developed over life (such as the state of the gut biome for example)
However, there are certain common elements and approaches that are likely to benefit many people recovering from burnout.
Hypnotherapy for burnout – recovery
Resting
For those whose who can rest this can be the most immediately effective thing. Time away from work, respite care support for carers. The problem is that many people who burn out are not psychologically or socially set up to properly rest. When people have difficulty resting the therapist may help them to;
- Establish appropriate boundaries – These are rules and guidelines for living which aim to moderate the effects of work or interpersonal demands by establishing what the person will accept and what they won’t. This requires exploration of the persons life to help them decide what is, and is not, a reasonable boundary. Further hypnotherapy approaches such as systematic desensitisation, assertiveness training, mental rehearsal may be used to rehearse situations and establish new ways of being. Psychodynamic work, like part therapy or inner child work, may help adjust old patterns of behaviour and assumptions about the world.
- Learn how to rest – Some people have insufficient experience of rest or are not neurologically inclined to traditional forms of rest and as such may need to learn how to do this. There are numerous approaches which can help with this; Learning self-hypnosis can help with both physical and mental relaxation. One of the most effective things a person can do is to enter a flow state, usually by engaging in a hobby or past time activity.
Sleeping
One of the most important things for people who are burning out is to get the best sleep they can. Hypnotherapy, when applied within the context of a wider programme of sleep hygiene can be very helpful at calming an over busy mind in preparation for sleep. Further, hypnotherapy may be helpful in getting into a deeper state of sleep.
Setting boundaries
Appropriate boundaries are vital to both recovery and burn out prevention. A hypnotherapist will coach you through identifying and setting boundaries. Further, they will support any boundary changes with hypnotic suggestion, EMDR, desensitisation and psychodynamic changes to enable these boundaries to both be set and retained.
Relighting the fire
After a suitable period of recovery and a level of energy has been returned it is often appropriate to ignite the inner fires of imagination, creativity and fun. This can be done non-hypnotically:
- By engaging in creative activities, a new activity or reactivating an old one.
- Spending more time in nature.
- Socialising with people who nourish you.
- Identifying your purpose in life, or how you derive meaning from life can be especially helpful at this stage.
Hypnotherapy can help these things to happen through visualisations and suggestion. Further, there are hypnotic exercises which can help to stimulate internal integration and nerve flow which help us feel more energetic and alive.
Hypnotherapy for burnout – Long term maintenance
Prevention is easier than cure and preventing burn out from happening again is a priority for anyone who has experienced it. To this end a hypnotherapist is likely to encourage, and support with hypnosis where appropriate, long term lifestyle changes which maintain healthy living. Further, they may help identify markers which indicate when the journey into burnout is happening and what the person needs to do at that point.
reference
Kohyama J. Which Is More Important for Health: Sleep Quantity or Sleep Quality? Children. 2021; 8(7):542. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8070542