Recognizing Caregiver Burnout

By Alicia Cruz
Theblackurbantimes

Have you ever had to be treated at the emergency room and suffered the emotional or verbal abuse of a nasty nurse or doctor with the bedside manner of a market butcher?

Or maybe you were down on your luck and had to enter a homeless shelter/program and were treated so badly by the social worker that you felt more like a plague-infected degenerate or an emotional pinata versus a human being in need of friendship and a kind word.

Or maybe you've been the victim of domestic violence and sought refuge at a local shelter only to be verbally and emotionally battered by the very same staff that facilitate the support group and preach about that vicious cycle of violence that includes the very same type of verbal and emotional abuse the staff has inflicted upon you and how there is "never an excuse for that type of behavior," yet they treat you like a suspect in an armed robbery line-up or a batterer versus a delicate, wounded individual that you are.

Did these experiences leave you wondering, "How in the world did a person with such an awful, nasty disposition and an obvious disdain for people get a job in the human service industry?"

The truth is some of those workers aren't tyrants on power trips that they come off as. Some of them be suffering from a case of caregiver burnout.

The burnout is a state of exhaustion (physical, emotional, and mental) that is accompanied by a change in attitude where the worker's attitude is negative, dismissive, rude and antagonistic.

Caregiver burnout occurs when people in fields like medical, law enforcement, social work and case management begin feeling defeated, overburdened or helpless within their field of work. Let's say you're a case manager with a caseload of 22 clients....Full Story