4 The drip, drip, drip effect of stress

Most evidence in burnout cases points to prolonged stress – leading to anxiety and, in many cases, disturbed sleep and fatigue – as being a key factor contributing to physical and emotional exhaustion (dimension 1). This prolonged stress is often known as the ‘drip, drip, drip’ effect of stress, as described by Brian Rock (2018), director of training at The Tavistock and Portman NHS trust, specialists in mental health.

Figure 4 What has a dripping tap got to do with burnout?

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A close up of a metal tap, dripping with water.

Figure 4 What has a dripping tap got to do with burnout?

The role of stress in burnout is also supported by leading sport psychologist Daniel Gould as you will see in the next activity.

Activity 5 Sources of stress in tennis

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Watch the following video of Daniel Gould whose early research into burnout in tennis underpinned some of the investigations that followed.

1. Identify the three sources of stress Gould describes.
2. Can you add any further possible sources?

You should watch the first 2 minutes 38 seconds.

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Transcript: Video 1

INTERVIEWER

Hi Dan, thanks again for talking to us.

I'd like to ask you about burnout - again a term that's bandied about in the media and by coaches and athletes, what could people watching this, what should they understand or what do sports psychologists understand by the term burnout?

DANIEL GOULD

Yeah I think you hit an important point people have a lot of different meanings - sometimes when somebody leaves a sport or discontinues a sport and stops playing, ‘oh they burned out’, sometimes that's the case and sometimes it's not. ‘I stopped playing the sport because it wasn’t fun or other types of things’. Burnout occurs when what was once an enjoyable activity no longer becomes enjoyable because you've been under long-term constant stress

INTERVIEWER

Right, so two features really: change and long-term stress

DANIEL GOULD

Yeah. One key thing is it's got to be something enjoyable from the front end, something you liked, but then because the stress over time it shifts from ‘I liked it to now the stress is kind of weighing me down and my liking and my motivation is dropping even though I used to like it’.

INTERVIEWER

So my question how does it happen?

I think we’ve probably touched on that already in terms of defining it. So can I ask you, how can we recognise it? Is it very obvious to people or can it be hidden?

DANIEL GOULD

It can be hidden and actually I’ll go back because in terms of what causes burnout; we did a study and found in tennis players who burned out it could be caused by one: internal factors like perfectionism, they had to be perfect all the time and that generated this constant stress to be perfect and it was perfectionism with a concern for mistakes tied in. We also found they some players had like a crazy or pushy parent that was always on their case and criticizing them from what they did. And for some it was physically driven, they didn't get enough sleep, they didn't eat right and they pushed themselves. So stress can come from a lot of different sources.

End transcript: Video 1

Video 1

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Discussion

1. Gould identified three different examples of stress, all of which are covered in detail in later sessions:
   • an internal source of stress – perfectionism, a personality factor that generates a constant stress to be perfect
   • external sources of stress – e.g. that stemming from an over-involved parent
   • physically created stress – related to training and/or poor recovery, e.g. sleep and nutrition.
2. Other sources of stress might be external sources such as a pushy coach or an organisation that monitors, measures and drives athletes to constantly high performance levels. Gould also makes the point about losing one’s enjoyment for sport – if sport has been your passion since childhood, losing that passion can be deeply unsettling and can be perceived as a source of stress in itself.

Physical stress is created by high training loads and – when severe and coupled with inadequate recovery – is known as overtraining. Overtraining is often a precursor to burnout. You will return to it in more detail in Sessions 3 and 4, such is its importance.