Beating Burn Out

Take charge and reclaim your health against the life exhaustions dragging you down

- Amber Bramble

At 31, Yumiko Kadota appeared to be living the dream. As a registrar at one of Sydney’s busiest hospitals, she was well on her way to achieving a stellar career as a reconstructive surgeon.

But those achievements came at an unbearable cost of debilitating shifts, harassment, discrimination, and burnout.

“It was only really when my physical health started to deteriorate that I realised something was really wrong,” Kadota explains. “I’m sure that it started affecting my mental health far earlier than I picked up on, because I think we learn to ignore the signs of stress.”

Opening up about her experiences in her book Emotional Female, Kadota hopes she can also help other people who are suffering from burnout. Here she tells WHO about her journey …

A SILENT EPIDEMIC

US research shows around 76 per cent of workers experienced some degree of burnout last year, with women more likely to be affected than men. It can happen in any profession, but it’s more common in some careers, including social work, law, retail, and emergency response work – with junior doctors like Kadota being at especially high risk.