Treatment methods

Burnout therapy: customised building blocks

An essential component of your burnout therapy is regular
individual psychotherapy with your therapist. Further elements are group therapies (problem-solving group and burnout group), mindfulness training, sports therapy as well as, in the event of indications, art or occupational therapy, physiotherapy and biofeedback. Together with you, we work on changing your existing strategies with regard to conflict resolution and problem solving. During your inpatient stay, you can try out or implement the first steps towards change. In this way, you will gradually develop a better feel for the limits of your resilience.

Profession-specific group programme

Burnout is diagnosed more frequently in some professions. These include teachers, self-employed people, consultants, psychotherapists and police officers. For this reason, we offer special therapy groups for these professions at Schoen Clinic, which are tailored precisely to the respective needs and take into account the specific stress factors. Examples include the therapy programme “Work and Health in the Teaching Profession (AGIL)” and our group for police officers. This includes successful stress management.

So that the burnout treatment is successful: Change guiding principles

Attitudes or guiding principles such as “I must always be better than others”, “I must always function” or “I mustn’t make mistakes” become a burden over time. In therapy, you learn to deal with your guiding principles on the basis of four questions.

Example:
Guiding principle: I mustn’t make any mistakes!

Question 1: Is it realistic for me to not make any mistakes?
Answer: No (although it would be nice, of course.)

Question 2: Is this guiding principle helpful?
Answer: No (because I am concentrating on details and lose sight of the big picture. This puts me behind schedule, makes me jittery and I make even more mistakes.)

Question 3: Does the guiding principle contain exclusivity?
Answer: Yes, unfortunately (the words “not any”).

Proposal for a possible reformulation:
I am allowed to make mistakes (even if it is difficult for me!).

The most important prerequisite for the success of your burnout therapy is your willingness to change your philosophy towards life. We know that it is a difficult step to let go of previous attitudes. Our therapists will gently bring you to this point.