Vet burnout is real: how to know when it's time to ask for help

The veterinary profession is challenging. We don't sell donuts in a nice smelling bakery, nor s*x toys to happy couples, right?

Any health care profession is challenging, to be honest. We know doctors and nurses don’t have it easy. But there's something about being a vet that makes it just that bit harder. Maybe it's the grey area with animals starting to be seen as family members, vs just property, but people still not catching up to the fact that medical care comes at a cost, even when the patient is furry (or scaly).

Maybe it's the crippling amount of knowledge, across all species, that we somehow expect to understand and remember down the line. There's also the fact that we come out wildly underprepared for surgeries, and it's a bit hit and miss whether you tumble into a clinic that's set up for you to learn in a way that doesn't push you into a zone of terror on a daily basis, or you're kinda left to your own devices, gnawing your fingernails down to the quick every day on your way to work.

Whatever the reasons, most of us in the veterinary profession routinely find ourselves with thoughts along the line of:

• I don't want to go to work today
• I'm a fraud and someone will find out
• I'm failing myself, my patients, my colleagues
• I'm not good enough/fast enough/confident enough
• Could I stop being a vet, and do something else? (here we have different fantasies, such as opening a pancake house (me), driving lorries, stacking shelves, working in a bakery…
• Maybe if I had just a little accident or something, I could justify taking a break…
• Everyone else has it sorted/knows more/are more successful than me.

The feelings we often experience are:

• Anxiety
• Inadequacy
• Fear
• Exhaustion
• Regret
• Resentment

To a certain extent, sometimes, it’s normal to go through difficult days/hours. But if this is consistent, and if you’re asking yourself as a vet: “Am I burned out”, or you’re googling “vet burnout symptoms” to try to find out if you need to seek help, here’s what I see in many of the vets I have coached through burnout:

• Mostly, they’re not enjoying their job anymore, and dream of taking a break or doing something completely different. They dread the start of the week, and often think “What’s the point? Does this ever get any better?”
• They have high levels of anxiety, and struggle with constant intrusive, negative thoughts
• Social anxiety goes up, because it becomes too much talking to other people
• They drop hobbies and other creative things they used to enjoy
• Their world evolves mainly around the profession (even when they’re not at work)
• They struggle with setting boundaries, and default to people pleasing
• Perfectionism and imposter syndrome is something I see in most, to an extreme
• Compassion fatigue - pet owners become a nuisance and a threat, rather than people we feel compassion for and genuinely want to help (because we’re so worn out and frazzled, and in fight and flight most of the time)
• Decision fatigue - because in this frame of mind, it seems as if our career is on the line with every decision we make. Deciding what to have for dinner, or what color to paint the bathroom becomes overwhelming.

When do we need to seek help if we’re in veterinary burnout? The sooner; the better, honestly. Nobody really prepares us for what it is to be a vet after we graduate. Euthanizing a cat that was the last thing left from the owner’s dead child. Intervening in cruelty cases. Owners with no money and critically ill animals. The constant feeling of not being good enough, and failing everyone.

We all need support, and the right tools to deal with this profession. Sometimes you just need to speak to someone who understands you, and won’t judge you, so you can feel seen and not alone. Sometimes you need to learn to reframe, set boundaries, process your emotions, not take responsibilities for everyone and their cat, and so many other things they don’t teach us and which don’t come naturally to us.

You can’t seek support “too early”. I’ve never heard anyone say “Goddam, I wish I had waited before getting a therapist/coach, or called a helpline”. When I’ve had severely burnt out vets, I have to first take the time to bring them back up to neutral, and from there decide what they want next. When vets come to me in the beginning stages, we can move so much further forward in less time, because we don’t have to spend weeks soothing a frazzled nervous system first. 

So if you’re wondering if you’re becoming burnt out - nip it in the bud now. Call any of the free helplines, like NOMV (depending on where you are in the world - you can google it). Find a therapist, or a coach (or both! A few of my veterinary clients have been in therapy at the same time, and it works really well). If any of the things you try don’t work for you - keep going until you find something and someone that suits you and how you perceive and process things.