Online Therapy for Physician Burnout: Stressor vs Stress
In online therapy for physician burnout, we break down stressors and stress. In many cases, people only focus on the stressors and not the stress response. In this blog, I’ll break down stressors, the stress response, and what we do with it.
Online Therapy for Physician Burnout
We’ll start with a story. Imagine you’re a caveman. You’re out hunting for dinner. Suddenly, a tiger appears out of nowhere. You go into fight or flight mode. Your body starts to release the stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline. Your heart rate increases and your breathing becomes rapid. You start to have racing thoughts. You run back to your cave and the tiger starts to chase. Luckily, you get back to your cave safely and the tiger goes away.
Breaking this down, the stressor is an external event or situation that triggers the body’s stress response. Stressors can be physical, psychological, or environmental. Examples include work, financial issues, relationship conflicts, health issues, and much more. In this case, it’s the tiger. It is the stressor that leads to feelings of stress. Now, stress is the body’s response to a stressor. It’s a physiological and psychological reaction that occurs when we feel threatened or challenged. It’s fight, flight, or freeze. In this case, it’s the release of hormones and your increased heart rate and breathing. This is stressors and stress response in a nutshell.
There is something hidden in this story of stressors and stress response. What is hidden is the completion of the stress response cycle. The stress response cycle prepares the body to deal with challenging situations. It can be broken down into several stages.
Stress Response Cycle for Physician Burnout
Perception of Stressor: We perceive a threat or challenge.
Activation of the Stress Response: When we perceive a stressor, the brain signals the adrenal glands to release stress hormones.
Physiological Changes: The stress hormones trigger physiological changes designed to prepare the body for the threat.
Reaction to Stressor: You go into fight, flight, or freeze mode. You go into fight mode if you’re going to confront the situation, flight mode if you’re going to escape the situation, and freeze mode if fight or flight isn’t available.
Resolution of the Stress Response: Once the stressor has been handled, the body’s stress response begins to return to baseline levels.
Recovery and Rest: This allows the body’s system to return to its normal state.
The piece hidden is the resolution of the stress response and recovery and rest. This is where many physicians and other high achievers fail in their stress response cycle. Many only really think about removing the stressor, work, from their lives. This goes deeper than only removing the stressor.
Stress is a natural and adaptive reaction that prepares the body to cope with the challenges of life. We are never going to be able to live a life without stress. We are also never going to be able to live a life without stressors. To have good mental health, we need to limit our stressors, cope with daily stress, and complete our stress cycle regularly. When we aren’t able to complete our stress cycle regularly, we have chronic and excessive stress in our lives. This hurts our physical health and mental health.
Ways to Beat Physician Burnout
In many cases, completing the stress response cycle means resolution of the stress response and recovery. There are many ways to do this. It takes action though. You have to do something to complete the stress cycle. You can’t just “think it.”
Physical Activity- I’m sure you know the recommendation of 30 minutes a day. Lifting weights, going for walks, yoga, or any activity you enjoy works. Exercise can help release tension and reduce stress hormones.
Deep Breathing- Deep breathing can help relax the body, calm the nervous system, and reduce stress. I talk about this type of coping skill here.
Social Connection- Talking with people you care about can help alleviate stress.
Affection- This could be petting your dog or cat. This can also mean hugging your partner. 20-second hugs can decrease cortisol and increase oxytocin levels.
A Big Cry- It’s that ugly, deep cry. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Crying can release oxytocin and endorphins, which can make people feel good and help ease physical and emotional pain.
In our story of being chased by a tiger, the piece that completes the stress response cycle is the physical activity aka the running away from the tiger so you won’t get eaten.
When you are dealing with burnout, many people think once you remove the stressor, everything will get better. You’ve only removed one of the issues. You need to deal with the stress and complete the stress response cycle. The stress has built up and it may take time to complete the stress response cycle. Also, there may be some issues with completing the stress response cycle that talk therapy may help with. Those underlying issues need to be addressed.
Reach out for Therapy for Physicians
When you’re ready to start therapy with Chris Rabanera, take the first steps with a free 15-minute consultation. I provide online therapy in California, online therapy in Michigan, online therapy in Nebraska, and online therapy in Las Vegas. As an experienced therapist, I specialize in physician burnout, grief counseling, anxiety, and depression. I also provide mental health treatment for men.
