In short: yes, HSPs are more likely to experience burnout. About57% of Dutch HSPs have experienced burnout. Internationally, as many as 75% of HSPs are affected by this, with rates as high as 87% in the United States. By comparison, in the Netherlands, 15% of women and 9% of men in the total workforce have experienced burnout.
This is evident from the study“HSP & Work (Stress)” byDrs. Esther Bergsma and her team at hoogsensitief.nl.
In this study, 1,500 Dutch HSPs and a total of 5,500 HSPs from more than 20 countries shared their experiences at work. Of the participating Dutch HSPs, 87% were women.
Esther Bergsma notes that this may mean that as many as 3 out of 4 people with burnout are highly sensitive.
What is burnout?
Burnout is a physical reaction of exhaustion resulting from prolonged overexertion. Thisoverexertionhas lasted at least half a year. In my coaching practice, I see that clients have often already experienced stress-related exhaustion (multiple times), pushed themselves to the limit, and ultimately ended up with burnout.
Burnout is primarily a stress-related condition. The difference from stress-related symptoms is that stress temporarily demands more from your body and mind than they can handle and lasts no longer than 12 weeks. With overexertion, this has been going on for the past six months, andyou recover within three to six months. In all three situations, your body and mind are being pushed beyond their limits, and your reserves are being depleted (exhaustion). You could compare this to spending too much money over a long period of time—money you don’t have—which drains your bank account and may even lead to debt. When this goes on for too long and the debts pile up—and you’ve ignored your creditors—your body has no choice but to file for bankruptcy. You can no longer get out of bed, let alone go grocery shopping, take care of the children, or do other things that used to be completely normal for you. Physically, rationally, and emotionally, you’re no longer capable of doing anything. Recovery takes an average of one year, though it can range from half a year to many years!
5 Reasons Why HSPs Are More Prone to Burnout
Highly sensitive people have many talents, such asan eye for detail,empathy, astrong sense of responsibility; they aremeticulous,helpful, andcreative. In addition, they havestrong analytical skills, makeprofound connections, and are good atassessing risks.
All of this makes them valuable—even indispensable—employees. Unfortunately, high sensitivity also makes them more prone to burnout. Why are HSPs more likely to experience burnout? Esther Bergsma identifies five causes:
1. Better—but also more stressful
In a supportive environment, highly sensitive people perform better than non-HSPs. However, that improved performance comes at a cost. HSPs feel more tired and experience more stress after completing tasks. Taking in more (subtle) information and processing it more deeply requires a lot of energy. More areas of the brain are active simultaneously, which makes tasks more energy-intensive. As a result, HSPs tire more easily, both mentally and emotionally.
The pursuit of perfection that most HSPs have also causes additional stress and fatigue.
2. Not getting enough rest (always on the go?)
Being highly sensitive goes hand in hand with a strong sense of responsibility and, in most cases, perfectionism as well. As a result, highly sensitive employees often push themselves beyond their limits or allow others to push them beyond their limits.
They see others working, which makes them feel guilty when they take a short break. Highly sensitive employees are therefore inclined to give more than they receive.
HSPs need more rest than non-HSPs to process the extra stimuli they take in throughout the day. To cope with the sensory overload caused by, for example, a negative atmosphere in the workplace, open-plan offices, excessive noise, light, smells, and the emotions of coworkers, sufficient recovery time is essential. However, due to their strong sense of responsibility and perfectionism, HSPs take fewer breaks than non-HSPs.
For women, another factor that often comes into play is that, in addition to being employees, they have many other roles—such as partner, mother, friend, homemaker, daughter, and so on. All of these roles involve a great deal of mental and emotional work. If this builds up for too long and becomes too much, it can lead to chronic stress-related symptoms such as burnout.
3. Emotional engagement (striving for the best option / setting the bar high)
Highly sensitive people are keenly attuned to the needs of others. This makes them caring and pleasant to be around. Because of the way their brains work, they analyze situations more deeply and take others’ needs into account. As a result, they want to do right by everyone. Esther Bergsma calls this the“optimal-option ambition.” While this is a talent for HSPs, it’s also a pitfall. It’s not possible to please everyone all the time, yet HSPs often keep trying to do so at the expense of their own well-being.
Many of my clients say that harmony is one of the most important things in relationships. In their efforts to care for everyone around them, they easily lose sight of themselves.
There can be several reasons for this. For example, the unpleasant feelings and emotions they experience as a result of others’ tension and emotions. Often, they don’t realize how unsafe this makes them feel, which causes them to automatically startfawning.
Often, they don’t even know how to do that—to put themselves first. You could also say that taking care of others out of a sense of insecurity is, in itself, putting yourself first.
Take, for example, my client S., who spends hours several times a week patiently and empathetically listening to the problems of colleagues and friends. Meanwhile, this takes a tremendous amount of energy out of her, and she often lies in bed for hours worrying. She’s pushing herself beyond her limits and burning herself out. As a result, she becomes exhausted and runs the risk of becoming overwhelmed or even experiencing burnout.
4. Give and take
A strong sense of justice. That’s how many of my clients describe themselves. They’re concerned about equal treatment, about nature, and about the impact that people’s insatiable desire for more and more has on it, and they care about a fair distribution of responsibilities and rewards.
Two out of three HSPs who participated in Esther Bergsma’s study do indeed experience an imbalance. When HSPs feel that things aren’t being handled fairly, it often leads to significant disappointment, anger, and sadness. That colleague who worked hard on her presentation but is criticized by another colleague for just one thing. The colleague who cuts corners but still gets the promotion. A strict hierarchy within the company. People who have far fewer opportunities in life than others. Climate injustice, where the world’s poorest people bear the brunt of climate change, and so on.
Adam Grant wrote about this as early as 2014 in his book*Give and Take*: givers are essential to a positive work environment.Giversare the people who contribute (endlessly) without expecting anything in return. According to Adam Grant, some givers run the risk of being exploited and burning out. The rest, on the other hand, achieve outstanding results.
Takers are focused on taking advantage of others as much as possible. As you can imagine, this doesn't exactly create the most pleasant (work) atmosphere!
Fortunately, there’s also a third category: theMatchers. These are people who focus on striking a balance between giving and receiving. They even make sure that givers also receive and that takers are kept in check—something the generous HSP can learn from.
5. Social Environment & Stressors
Brain scans show that HSPs are more sensitive to social cues—such as the atmosphere at work, other people’s moods and emotions, and nonverbal communication. Many people nowadays work in open-plan offices, where there’s no escaping all these stimuli. Processing all of this takes a toll on your concentration and leads to additional exhaustion.
Add to that the ever-increasing amount of information coming at us in an increasingly hectic (digital) world. You might also recognize this as the constant stream of text messages and emails that you feel the other person expects you to reply to immediately.
Our bodies and our (stress-sensitive) brains haven’t evolved alongside all these digital inventions. Of all social stimuli, social media is by far the greatest source of environmental stress. In his book*Asociale Media*, Thijs Launspach refers to this as“social cocaine.” We’re so sensitive to the social rewards we get from social media that it acts like a drug. The platforms reward you when you invest time and attention in them, and punish you when you don’t.
According to Launspach, it starts with “the perfectly normal insecurity that comes with your position in the group.” In an effort to reduce our insecurities (Do others like me? Do they notice me? Am I stupid, boring, unattractive, etc.?), we post photos where we naturally look good. The number of likes then confirms the social approval of your network: I’m accepted!
Every “like” reinforces the feeling that you need social media to feel good about yourself. The more your self-esteem becomes intertwined with this, the more often you’ll return to it. But… every new post brings with it the same insecurity: a fear of rejection, of not belonging to the group. The stress that comes with this can ultimately even lead to burnout.
6. Perfectionism
I’d like to add a sixth reason of my own: perfectionism. About 75% of adult HSPs are perfectionists.
In my coaching practice, where I specialize in perfectionism, high sensitivity, stress, and burnout, I see an overlap between these areas in about 80% of my clients. Clients who experience the negative effects of perfectionism are almost always highly sensitive as well and suffer from stress-related symptoms or burnout. Highly sensitive clients also struggle with perfectionism and experience symptoms of stress and burnout.
There has been a great deal of research on the relationship between perfectionism and burnout. It has therefore long been known that perfectionists are at a higher risk of burnout.
Researchers refer to this as perfectionistic concerns (as opposed toperfectionistic striving). By this, researchers mean worrying about making mistakes, fear of being judged negatively by others, a discrepancy between one’s own expectations and one’s performance, and negative reactions to imperfection. Perfectionistic striving is about setting healthy—but very challenging—goals for yourself and maintaining very high personal standards. Personally, I prefer to call this“healthy striving”(also known as maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism).
In short: the fears associated with perfectionism—such as fear of failure and intense self-criticism—make perfectionists more likely to experience burnout.
References
Bergsma, E. (2019). HSP and Burnout: International Research. Inhoogsensitief.nl. https://hoogsensitief.nl/2019/01/09/hsp-and-burnout-international-research/
Bergsma, E. (2017). https://hoogsensitief.nl/2017/06/22/5x-waarom-hsp-vaker-burn-out-raken/
Grant, A. (2014).Give and Take, London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Hill, A. P.; Curran, T. (2015).Multidimensional Perfectionism and Burnout: A Meta-Analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review
Launspach, T. (2023).A Social Media, Amsterdam, Spectrum