Common causes of mental imbalance in executives
Here are just a few of the causes.
When you need “me time” and you don’t get it, or can’t get it because there are so many pressures and expectations on you (work, family, etc), you quickly fall out of balance. Keep that up for any length of time and perspective soon disappears, and that, in turn, leads to all sorts of unwelcome thoughts and emotions. Prolong that, in turn, and the knock-on problems start to have detrimental effect on performance, in all areas of life. As you may have guessed, that is a route to a “nervous breakdown.”
Long-term, excess ambition usually burns out leading to a massive loss of purpose and identity, which many times ends in depression and suicide.
Many executives I have helped over the years have been plagued by perfectionism, and the more experienced they became, the worse it was for them. Perfectionism leads executives to, and keeps them in, a place of failure. Since “perfect” can never exist, everything they do is a failure compared to their standards. Everything. And failure after failure, after failure, for years grinds them down. Morale and mood are gradually depleted over such a long time that they don’t notice the changes. Upbeat, optimistic executives, with perfectionism, often end up pessimistic, cynical, disillusioned and depressed.
Those are just three of the many causes of imbalance in executives, there are many more. If your life has fallen out of balance, and that is impacting your performance, you may wish to consider professional help. Between one and three sessions of executive psychotherapy is enough for most executives to restore balance.
