The context
Delphine is a marketing assistant. She is 35 years old. She was on sick leave for 6 months after a clearly diagnosed burnout.
While on leave, she underwent psychotherapy, the primary objective of which was to analyze the causes of her collapse.
As we enter this case, she has just resumed her work on a therapeutic part-time basis and at another position which she has requested be simple and less exposed, which has been accepted by the HRD. At the same time, she continued her psychotherapy.
It was then that she returned to see her doctor.
Questions to the audience : what do you think she is saying to him?
Responses from the audience:
- It's worse than before!
- She feels devalued in a simpler job
- She is in avoidance; and you would think she was right. There are indeed many people who do not want to recognize that they are "diminished" because it makes them feel ashamed.
- She wants a career change
Resumption of the case narrative
Since her return, Delphine realizes that she is struggling to do the simpler job she was given.
She also has to face questions from her former colleagues and worries about having to justify herself.
She finds that she is making mistakes, that she needs help, and that the pressure she is putting on herself is mounting.
At the same time, she is disappointed with her psychotherapy, which focuses mainly on possible personal problems when what concerns her is only her work. Her family relations are, she says, very good.
This overall observation makes her fear falling back into the pattern she has already experienced: over-investment, exclusion and isolation.
His personal fragility resurfaces; she is afraid of the judgment of others.
It is in a logic of belief; she feels she has a potential flaw, is terribly anxious, becomes “paranoid of herself”.
It then enters into a logic of control; she seeks to overinvest, favors action, wants to be irreproachable, anticipates bad reactions. For example, it takes ¼ hour to write a tiny email for fear of doing wrong.
She avoids asking for help because she is afraid of disturbing, she especially does not want to be talked about. She makes detours so as not to meet her former colleagues "they might think she's stupid". She is ashamed and does not want to face any question. She is in agony.
The trap
She is trapped. Why and how?
Her expectation is to measure that she is capable, that she is intelligent; she thinks :
- Am I able?
- I have to know how to do it myself
- I see difficulties
- I feel like I'm failing
But she controls by herself to consolidate her hope and will experience each difficulty like torture, which contributes to increasing her fragility.
And leads her to the conclusion that you definitely can't get out of a burnout.
