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Mental health
Original research
Facing a blind alley - Experiences of stress-related exhaustion: a qualitative study
  1. Sara Alsén1,2,
  2. Lilas Ali1,2,3,
  3. Inger Ekman1,2,
  4. Andreas Fors1,2,4
  1. 1 Institute of Health and Care Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  2. 2 Centre for Person-Centred Care (GPCC), University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  3. 3 Psychiatric department, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden
  4. 4 Research and Development Primary Health Care, Region Västra Götaland, Gothenburg, Sweden
  1. Correspondence to Sara Alsén; sara.alsen{at}gu.se

Abstract

Introduction Mental illness is a major concern in many countries. In Sweden, stress-related mental illness is currently the most frequent reason for sick leave.

Objective This study aimed to explore patients’ experiences of stress-related exhaustion.

Design A qualitative study with interview data analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutic method.

Setting Participants were selected from public primary healthcare centres in a larger city in western Sweden.

Participants Seven women and five men on sick leave from work due to stress-related exhaustion were included in the study.

Findings Stress-related exhaustion was experienced as a loss of access to oneself and one’s context and feelings of being trapped and lost in life. The condition had a significant impact on personal identity, raised existential issues and was interpreted as facing a blind alley. Participants described a mistaken direction in life, being forced to stop, change direction and act differently.

Conclusion Stress-related exhaustion is a challenging, life-changing existential experience that involves a crisis with an opportunity for new insights. Careful consideration of patients’ narratives together with the expertise of healthcare professionals can be combined to improve health and optimise recovery based on individual’s situation.

  • primary care
  • mental health
  • qualitative research
  • public health
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038230

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors All authors participated in the design of the study. SA conducted and transcribed the interviews. SA performed the analysis with critical input from LA, IE and AF. SA drafted the manuscript, which was reviewed and edited by LA, IE and AF. All authors approved the final manuscript. The authors wish to acknowledge the participants for sharing their experiences.

    • Funding This study was financed by grants from The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (reference number 2016–07418, 2017–00557 and 2019–01726) and from the Swedish state under the ALF agreement between the Swedish government and the country (ALFGBG-772191 and ALFGBG-932659). This work was also supported by The University of Gothenburg Centre for Person-Centred Care (GPCC), Sweden. GPCC is funded by the Swedish Government’s grant for Strategic Research Areas (Care Sciences) and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Ethics approval Approval for the study was obtained from the Ethical Review Board at the University of Gothenburg (Dnr: 497–17, T 526–18) and the study conformed to the Declaration of Helsinki.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement No additional data are available.