The case described in the case study is the problem of a person - a manager, from whom his family, friends and, finally, colleagues have completely departed. He always worked hard, he was successful in all his achievements. He had a clear plan, knew how to work with visions, fulfilled his aspirations and achieved his goals. He was never able to give up the "crazy" pace. He worked and simply did not notice that his chosen approach to life and work was a sure path to mental, physical, and emotional destruction. As a result of this set pace of life, gradually appeared the deprivation and later burnout syndrome, which completely changed the life of our client.
Life story
Otakar has a 2nd degree university education, he is 43 years old, married, has one son, and has been working in corporations for 18 years. He has been working in the IT sector for all his productive life. He always worked hard and enjoyed his work so much that it was reflected in his performances and achievements. Regularly at the end of the year, he was evaluated as one of the top three workers. His wife Jana, university degree educated, works as a teacher. After the wedding, their coveted son Andrej was born who means everything to Otakar. Family life was well arranged and the family performed all its functions (protective, emotional, educational, economic). His life had a meaning, he did well. He had some good friends at work, with whom their families visited each-other regularly. His best friend was Peter. Peter: "When their son was born, he (Otakar) was happy and said it was the happiest day of his life. He was incredibly dedicated to his son, proud of him and would have done anything for the family. Otakar wanted his family to be satisfied and not miss anything. He worked honestly and often overtime to provide his family financially." The whole family often made various trips, vacations together. They visited Andrei's grandparents regularly. A very strong bond was formed between Andrej and Otakar. It would seem that everything is in the best order. The problem began when Otakar started working overtime and working on projects late in the night. Tension in the family has escalated and Otakar began to spend less time with his family. At that time, his friend Michal has already observed a change in Otakar´s behavior. Michal: " Otakar started to be more and more quiet and claimed that his wife Jana was showing him that she want to spend more time with their son Andrej alone and with her girlfriends (without Otakar). It was evident that she wanted to attach their son Andrei more to herself since Otakar was constantly working." The situation in the family began to be unbearable. Otakar wanted everything to be the same as it was in the past. He did not want to take part in the fight for his son. He wanted the family to be fine and to provide for family everything. He did not succeed and gradually the functional family became a dysfunctional one. Communication between spouses was limited to the basic instructions of the household functioning. At work, Otakar's communication channels with colleagues began to have a cynical undertone and his professional confidence failing in communication was noticeable. Over time, he lost "ground under his feet", but constantly tried to work on a full gas. He couldn't even spent with a moment for his leisure activities.
Based on the events described above, Otakar's long-term condition began to get worse rapidly. Negative feelings of disappointment, helplessness, self-doubt about his abilities began to appear, despite the fact that his previous work and personal life was trouble-free. Gradually, he lost spontaneity and initiative. A vicious circle began to arise at work: assignment, work, deadlines, which he ceased to perceive as a creative potential to achieve the set goals, but rather perceived it as a burden. Over time, his somatic difficulties and problems with memory. Otakar „successfully“ worked his way up to a burnout syndrome. Negative emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, and a disorder of psychological regulation of activity – abulia began to manifest themselves.
Professional Intervention
It was a great challenge for the professional counsellor to gain Otakar, provide him with a topic and the activity that might be interesting to him and is essential in his (Otakar´s) eyes. We decided to solve the situation taking the professional coaching and counseling, we focused on his autonomy and support in activities in which he can fully develop his skills, knowledge, as well as his empirical potential
From the communication with Otakar it became clear that: Every day was a bad day. Taking care of his work or family life seems like a total waste of energy. He was constantly exhausted. Most of his day he spent working on tasks that were boring (for him).
Current situation
The burnout syndrome is overcome finally. Professional care was based primarily on searching for the meaning of life, adjusting the value ladder, proper alternation of rest and work. We communicated intensively with Otakar´s wife and friends (with Otakar's permission, of course). At present, Otakar's family life and its quality have become an impulse for further planning and development of work life, in which he found new possibilities for personal fulfilment. The way back from burnout to previous life quality is very long and almost impossible without professional intervention. Important warning signs and their detection are part of a quick return to the quality of life you desire.