Moms Facing Burnout and What You Can Do

By: Embracing Her Den

The information provided is for support and educational purposes. Everyone is different, and it is important to seek a professional for medical advice.

You’re exhausted and you feel like no matter how much you do that nothing is ever done. You feel like you’re falling behind and so you begin to push off tasks. Fatigue and irritability set in. It’s hard to enjoy things you once had. It even feels like a chore just to text friends back. Everything is just plain overwhelming.

There are various factors, but you may be facing burn out. Many people, especially parents, have been go-go-go in their day-to-day.

This is a tough one for me. I face burn out more than I would like to admit. As a parent you are giving so much time and energy to your children. You oversee keeping little humans alive. Along with many other responsibilities that it can be draining.

Below are some statistics and evidence-based activities you can do to help reduce burn out.

What is burnout and some related factors according to researchers:

According to APA Dictionary of Psychology (2018), burnout is “physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance, and negative attitudes toward oneself and others. It results from performing at a high level until stress and tension, especially from extreme and prolonged physical or mental exertion or an overburdening workload, take their toll.”

A finding in 2022 by The Ohio State University Office of the Chief of Wellness and College of Nursing reveals that 66% of working parents met criteria for burnout. Specifically, during the Pandemic, those that experienced burnout were mothers, parents with multiple children, children diagnosed with ADHD or anxiety, parents with anxiety, and parents concerned their children have undiagnosed mental health disorder.

Researchers developed, as cited by Jessie Van Amburg (2023) in The 4 Signs of Maternal Burnout and How to Recover, the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) and they found out that there are four components to parental burnout that include feeling exhausted by parenting, feeling like a worse parent than before, feeling fed up, frustrated, or dissatisfied with parenting, and distancing yourself emotionally from children (Roskem, et al., 2018, p.9).

Ways to Combat Burnout according to Pandemic Parenting: Examining the Epidemic of Working Parental Burnout and Strategies to Help (Gawlick and Melnyk, 2022):

Take good self-care: take a 5-10 minute break a few times a day (meditation, physical activity (dancing to favorite music), drink a warm beverage slowly.

Be kind to yourself: Don’t set high expectations, overcommit, and forgive yourself.

Talk to someone you trust: stay connected to family and friends. Talk to someone about how you are feeling.

Build your mental resilience and coping skills: mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral skills, practicing gratitude and self-affirmations.

Ask for help: talk to a medical professional if your level of burn out is interfering with your ability to function or concentrate.

The information provided is for support and educational purposes. Everyone is different, and it is important to seek a professional for medical advice.

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Resources:

American Psychological Association. (2018, April 19). Apa Dictionary of Psychology. American Psychological Association. https://dictionary.apa.org/burnout

Melnyk, B. M., & Gawlik, K. (2022, May). Pandemic Parenting: Examining the Epidemic of Working Parental Burnout and Strategies to Help. The Ohio State University. https://wellness.osu.edu/chief-wellness-officer/parent-burnout#:~:text=Among%20the%20key%20findings%3A,met%20the%20criteria%20for%20burnout.

Roskam, I., Brianda, M.-E., & Mikolajczak, M. (2018a, April 30). A step forward in the conceptualization and measurement of parental burnout: The Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA). Frontiers. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00758/full#h7

Van Amburg, J. (2023, May 9). The 4 signs of maternal burnout and how to recover. What to Expect. https://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/you-and-your-health/mom-burnout