ABD burnout: Don't let it stop you from

ABD burnout: Don't let it stop you from finishing your dissertation | Issue 188

Summary & Contents

ABD burnout: Don't let it stop you from finishing your dissertation. Learn the symptoms and five proven ways to prevent a crisis before it hits. Over half of doctoral students drop out due to stress, burnout, and other factors. It's not you, it's the system, says Dr. Nora Misiolek, but you can take action.

1. Editor's Note: Simple Cures for Winter Blahs

2. Free Burnout Self-Assessment

3. Words from the Wise

4. Feature Article: Beat Dissertation Burnout: 5 Things To Do Now To Prevent a Crisis by Nora Misiolek, Ph.D.

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EDITOR'S NOTE

Dear ABD Survival Guide Reader,

As winter dwindles down, do you find yourself feeling lethargic?

If so, which do you hold more responsible?

(a) the daily grind of work-school-life
(b) the endless wintry weather

If you answered (a), don't miss Dr. Misiolek's sage advice on beating dissertation burnout. She explains why burnout is not your fault, but you can take corrective action anyway before it becomes a crisis. You can also check yourself using the free Burnout Self-Test [see link below].

However, if it's the prolonged onslaught of cold and snow that makes you miserable, consider the advice offered on the tourism page for Ithaca, NY (home of Cornell U): Go to Key West!

But if a tropical vacation is out of the question, what are your options for lifting your spirits?

Try these six positive psychology-based tips for improving your mood anytime:

1) GET CURIOUS. What can you explore or learn?
2) GET SOCIAL. Whose company would bring a smile?
3) GET CREATIVE. What talent might you take time to enjoy?
4) GET HAPPY. Do something you love to do.
5) GET ACTIVE. Dance, ski, do yoga, but move!
6) GET THANKFUL. Find something to be grateful for every day.

In any case, keep in mind your future bragging rights. While my Boston-based son can barely wait to see the city's 1872 snowfall record smashed, Capracotta, Italy, set the new world one-day snowfall record with (8.34 feet) of snow in about 18 hours on March 5. [See photo.] That makes our six-inch storm here in coastal Maryland seem like a mere dusting.

You deserve bragging rights about your doctorate too.

Be intentional about keeping your energy up so you can get the next dissertation chapter out the door. Accomplishing something important is always a great way to make your own sunshine while you wait for the days to grow longer.

Wishing you resilience and an early Spring,

Gayle Scroggs, Ph.D., P.C.C.
Editor

PS. FREE BURNOUT SELF-TEST: For an informal assessment, see http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_08.htm

WORDS FROM THE WISE

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. — Ovid

It is a very good plan every now and then to go away and have a little relaxation… When you come back to the work your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgment. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Without haste, but without rest. — Johann von Goethe

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither. — Alan Cohen

You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging. — Brené Brown

FEATURE ARTICLE: Beat Dissertation Burnout: 5 Things To Do Now To Prevent a Crisis

By Nora Misiolek, Ph.D.

My friend Ted (not his real name) knew that something was wrong. He had completed his coursework, successfully defended his dissertation proposal, begun data collection, and completed his literature review.

He began to doubt that he could successfully complete and defend his dissertation. Plus, he needed to search for a post-doc or a full-time academic position, write conference papers, teach, and maybe search for additional funding. He didn't feel that he could afford to spend much more than four years in the program.

The doctoral work had already taken its toll. He had gained weight and flab, and his significant other complained that he was irritable most of the time. The pressure to produce was affecting his sleep and his moods. When he sat down to write, he felt listless and exhausted. He began to imagine he was losing his hair.

He described himself as feeling like a hamster in a cage with one of those running wheels that never stopped turning. Sound familiar?

DOCTORAL STUDENTS AND BURNOUT

Grad student burnout has suddenly become visible, both on the web and in institutional research. As reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education, roughly 50% of doctoral students never finish.

Two recent studies of graduate student mental health found these dismaying results:

Between 67 to 40% of graduate students said that they felt hopeless during the past year.
54% in one study said that they had a hard time functioning due to depression, while 27% said that they had felt "depressed" in the other.
Slightly over 78% said that they felt overwhelmed.
Almost 55% felt stress ranging from "more than average" to "tremendous."
Almost 10% reported that they had considered committing suicide.

Burnout turns energy into exhaustion, involvement into cynicism, and efficacy into ineffectiveness.

Christina Maslach and her colleagues have been conducting research on burnout for over 20 years in a variety of workplace settings ranging from schools to health care settings. They define burnout as the "erosion of a positive state of mind."

As you burnout, your engagement with your work erodes, they find. The energy, involvement, and efficacy that you felt when you began your work fade away. Positive feelings like enthusiasm, dedication, and enjoyment fade away and are replaced by feelings like frustration, hostility, anger, anxiety, and alienation.

BURNOUT DIFFERS FROM STRESS

Surprisingly, factors associated with burnout are in fact the opposite of factors associated with stress, note Melanie Smith and colleagues. Consider these differences between stress and burnout:

Burnout is characterized by disengagement, while stress is characterized by over-engagement.
Emotions are blunted when you're experiencing burnout, while they are over-reactive with stress.
Burnout produces feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, while stress produces feelings of urgency and hyperactivity.
When you experience burnout, you lose motivation, ideals and hope, while loss of energy is the result of stress.
Burnout leads to detachment and depression, while stress leads to anxiety disorders.
The primary damage from burnout is emotional, while the primary damage from stress is physical.
Burnout may make like seem not worth living, while stress can kill you prematurely.

HOW GRAD SCHOOL CAUSES BURNOUT

Are you beginning to suspect you might be suffering from burnout? You might take some comfort from knowing that it is not about you.

While perfectionists, pessimists, and control freaks may be more at risk, the primary causes of burnout are more often built into the graduate student social environment, assert researchers.

The causes are myriad: work overload, lack of control over your work, lack of recognition and reward, losing a sense of community and connection with others, real or perceived lack of fairness, and value conflict.

KNOW BURNOUT WARNING SIGNS

Burnout is insidious—it creeps up slowly over time. Watch for warning signs and symptoms that have been found to be associated with burnout. Check in with yourself regularly and honestly. Listen to your family and friends.

Denial could lead to a full-blown case of burnout down the road, which is likely to require treatment by a mental health professional.

Burnout manifests differently in different people. Helpguide.org, identifies these symptoms:

Chronic fatigue; lack of energy; feeling tired and drained most of the time.
Changes in appetite or sleep habits.
Frequent illness.
A sense of failure and self-doubt.
Lack of motivation.
Increasing cynicism and negativity.
Feelings of helplessness and defeat.
Detachment from others.
Procrastinating, and taking longer to get things done.
Isolating yourself from others and decreased social responsibility
Irritability and a tendency to take out your frustrations on others

PREVENT BURNOUT: FIVE STRATEGIES TO LEVERAGE NOW

Although the sources of burnout are environmental, relevant research shows at least five things that you can do as an individual to prevent it.

1. Avoid work overload by setting boundaries. Figure how you are spending your time and energy by starting a personal activity log. Once you have a handle on how you're spending your time and energy, it will be easier to say "no," and to set boundaries around work expectations.

2. Establish priorities to manage workload. When you establish priorities, you narrow your focus, which is essential to managing work. It also becomes easier to set boundaries when you are clear about your priorities than when you are not clear.

3. Don't aim for perfection. When you try to be perfect, you wind up working more, and procrastinating more. Partnering with someone to whom you are accountable, and who will honestly evaluate your work and give your feedback, can curb the need to be "perfect."

4. Make time for yourself on a daily basis. Make daily renewal a habit by doing something for yourself each and every day. Some simple, and effective suggestions are taking frequent breaks, exercising, taking a walk, meditating, making sure that you get enough sleep, eating nutritiously, and practicing gratitude.

5. Disconnect from technology, but stay connected with others. Get a handle on how much of your day is spent on non-essential technology use like checking email, posting to Facebook, or playing games. Set aside or schedule times at which you will do things like respond to email or check Facebook, and use the extra time to connect with friends, family, and other ABDs on campus or off.

I hope you can use these strategies to keep burnout at bay and successfully complete your degree. And in case you were wondering, Ted took a leave of absence and then happily reengaged with his work. He will be defending his dissertation this Spring.