People with burn-on continue to function in everyday life – despite constant stress, exhaustion and physical complaints. What lies behind it and what helps those affected.
This text comes from the stern archive and first appeared in November 2023.
Some time ago, the doctor Bert te Wildt and the psychologist Timo Schiele came up with the term “burn-on” as a catchy name for a phenomenon that many people are familiar with: you feel completely exhausted – but you still keep on functioning. Those affected are always on the verge of before burnout, but the total breakdown does not occur. Bert te Wildt, a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy, and the psychologist Timo Schiele work in the psychosomatic clinic at Kloster Dießen. There they actually treat people with burnout symptoms. But in recent years, more and more patients have sat in front of him who, at first glance, did not show how bad they were, says Timo Schiele.
Like Anna Vogel (name changed by the editors), marketing manager and mother of three. The 42-year-old went to the clinic because she wanted to get her sleep problems and various chronic pains under control. She had tried to do this for years with medication and a few hours with therapists, but to no avail. During the admission interview, she stressed how important it was to her to be fit for her job again in four weeks at the latest. And that she planned to work full-time again once she had her health under control again.