2023.11.08
Perhaps:
Such as:
Examples:
If you’re working in an organization that routinely tolerates hypocrisy, unfairness, or hostility – or if you’ve been pushed over and over to cross ethical lines – you might start to feel burned out.
Except it might not really be burnout in the classic sense.
You see, there is a commonality in the above examples. They each illustrate a violation or betrayal of trust, a person’s core values, conscience, or morals.
And on a one-off basis, those examples bother us, but we move on.
But when we witness or experience even “small” violations or betrayals over and over and over, we experience actual psychological harm. And unchecked psychological harm can have impacts on our physical well-being over time.
The term for this is moral distress or moral injury and it might apply to at least 25% of people reporting work-related burnout1.
Disambiguating burnout from moral distress/injury is important because you don’t overcome them in the same manner. Becoming well-rested or learning to proactively manage stress doesn’t cut it when it comes to healing from moral distress/injury.
Note: If it were up to Burnout Proof, we’d use moral injury for life-and-death stakes situations (like war and healthcare) and moral distress for transgressions in a more “corporate” setting. However there doesn’t seem to be consensus at this time out in the wild so use the term that suits you; moral injury seems a bit more popular at the moment.
Healing moral distress from witnessing/perpetuating transgressions in the regular workplace typically requires either the violations/betrayals stop happening (i.e., the organization makes some changes) or the individual proactively removes themselves from that environment (i.e., quitting their job). Time often does the rest, but sometimes therapy is beneficial.
Healing moral injury from witnessing/perpetuating frontline trauma often requires holistic mental health treatment that addresses PTSD as well. It is well outside the scope of Burnout Proof's expertise to comment on.
Which of the example hypocrisies, unfairnesses, or hostilities have you been complicit in perpetuating either yourself or have happened on your watch? How have you justified them to yourself?
If you are certain that moral distress isn’t a part of your team or organizational domain, what makes you certain? What evidence do you have?
It can be beneficial to probe clients’ situations to understand whether it is regular burnout, moral distress/injury, or a combo. The path forward is different if moral distress/injury is in play.
And at the very least, sometimes it helps for your clients to know that there is a term for what they are experiencing. Naming things often gives a sense of control.
1According to researcher Ludmila Praslova,Ph.D. in “Feeling distressed at work? It might be more than burnout.” Fast Company. January 14, 2022.
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