The following report on burnout treatment at Vida Libre was published in the Mallorca Zeitung on March 24, 2024.

Read the original article as a PDF (in German) here .

Double the distance

by Alexandra Wilms

Away from everyday life, away from problems: more and more Germans are coming to Mallorca for burnout treatment. Or to make a fresh start

“In the end it was so bad that I couldn’t even drive a car anymore,” recalls Dörte S. The restaurateur from Düsseldorf experienced panic attacks, dizziness and suicidal thoughts – she was diagnosed with burnout. She found help on the island of Majorca. A doctor and friend had told her about the Vida Libre project, which psychologist Coletta Damm has been running for over 15 years at a finca in Felanitx. The project offers support to people who, as Damm puts it, “have lost sight of themselves in the face of all the work”.

And there are more and more of them. According to the AOK health insurance company, the frequency of burn-out diagnoses has increased dramatically in the past ten years. Based on their own figures, the health insurance company’s experts estimate that in 2022 there were around 216,000 burn-out sufferers in Germany, with a total of around 5.3 million sick days. “Burnout syndrome is nothing new, but in my opinion it is being encouraged by the general idea of constant ‘self-improvement’,” says Coletta Damm, who has now handed over the management of Vida Libre to her daughter Olivia. Together with 15 employees, the family business offers not only relaxation in a quiet and idyllic rural setting for those affected by burnout: Guests also learn strategies for shaping their lives and daily routine in the future. A structured daily routine is offered, with yoga, coaching, sports, music, animal and creative therapy, massages and time for oneself. “It’s good that the rhythm is prescribed, because you can’t do it yourself anymore,” says Dörte S.

The fact that all of this took place in Mallorca was a deciding factor for her at the time, says Dörte S.: “Getting out of my own obsessive world was extremely important to me”. Therapist Damm agrees: “For many people, it helps a lot to get away from everything in the first place.” Added to this is the attractiveness of Mallorca: many of her guests find that they start to relax as soon as they land. And the concept of the island as a place of relaxation for self-discovery also plays a role. It takes an average of two to three weeks before those affected dare to return to everyday life alone. You’re not cured yet, but at least you’re in a position to slowly work your way back out,” says Dörte S. The family atmosphere – a maximum of four guests are accommodated at the finca in Felanitx at any one time – and the dedicated staff help to ensure a quick recovery, while follow-up support by phone or video call prevents relapses. This comes at a price: the first two weeks at Vida Libre cost around 6,900 euros. Whereby burnout recovery on Mallorca is much, much more expensive. Exclusive retreats can be found on the internet, one of which, for example, includes a personal manager and your own chef, in addition to a variety of different therapeutic treatments in an exclusive private villa. The cost for a one-week stay: up to 87,000 euros.

In comparison, intensive therapy with Anja Dein in Palma is more affordable. The graduate psychologist and therapist runs the Anímate Psychology Center, which she founded, and offers, among other things, follow-up therapy for burn-out patients after inpatient stays in clinics. A week of intensive therapy with three two-hour sessions costs 900 euros. Through her collaboration with the Oberberg-Klinken, a network of private specialist clinics in the field of psychiatry, psychosomatics and psychotherapy, she has seen a high demand from patients in Germany. “Many have friends or their own home here,” says the 60-year-old, who also offers planning a stay on her website for those in need of therapy who do not have their own place on Mallorca. Anja Dein speaks of a double distance during a therapy stay on the island: the distance to the familiar environment and the distance to the problem itself. “Burnout arises from behavioral patterns, from extremely high demands on oneself, which are also caused by our modern times. Constant stress with a lack of rest periods lead to early symptoms such as social withdrawal, altered eating behavior or irritability.” Increased alcohol consumption is also often associated with the onset of burnout.

ADDITIONAL PROBLEM OF ALCOHOL

An observation that Coletta Damm from Vida Libre can confirm. In fact, the psychologist explicitly offers alcohol withdrawal stays at her finca in addition to burnout treatment. She then also discovers burnout in many of her guests who come for withdrawal during the course of therapy. “Often it starts as a form of relief drinking to help you fall asleep or to help you relax.” The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed burnout as an occupational phenomenon, not as a medical condition, in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) since 2022. According to the definition, burnout is a syndrome “designed as a result of chronic stress in the workplace that has not been successfully managed” and is characterized by exhaustion, increasing mental distance to work and reduced professional efficiency. Burnout was often diagnosed as exhaustion depression in the past, reports Damm. She struggles with the WHO definition, which classifies burnout only as an occupational phenomenon. “It mainly affects people who place high demands on themselves and always want to do everything 100 percent perfectly. This can be a housewife as well as a manager.” Around 70 percent of her guests are self-employed and need prompt and quick help. This was also the case for Dörte S.: “At the time, I didn’t have time to take six months off work,” she recalls.

Therapist Anja Dein also has a lot of freelancers as patients. “This is no longer just a manager’s illness,” she reports. In addition to intensive therapy for burn-out sufferers from Germany, Dein also offers preventive workshops in Palma – including for medical personnel of the Balearic government. She often hears from nursing home staff, social workers or public service caregivers that even basic needs such as going to the bathroom or getting a glass of water to quench their thirst are suppressed and only satisfied hours later. “If you continually ignore your own needs, at some point you no longer even perceive them.” To prevent burnout, Dein explains to the locals what the first signs are and how to react to them, for example with breathing and relaxation exercises. In her experience, the term burnout is not used that much in Spain; here, people tend to talk about depression. However, her personal assessment that people in this country suffer from burnout more often than in Germany is supported by an EU-wide study: according to the study, 55 percent of all Spaniards have already suffered from burnout or were on the verge of it, compared to 50 percent of Germans. This is probably also due to the fact that the hotel and restaurant industry is one of the biggest risk groups: according to the website statista.com, 80 percent of staff reported in 2019 that they felt overwhelmed by their own workload, closely followed by factory workers and ambulance staff. This is probably one of the reasons why Dörte S. closed her restaurant in Mallorca after her therapy and switched to a different job. “After my diagnosis, I was ashamed of myself because I couldn’t withstand the pressure,” she says. According to the therapists working in Mallorca, people deal with the diagnosis in different ways. While Damm has the impression that burnout is now socially accepted, and even ‘highly respected’ in some cases, Dein also reports on patients who are in public life in Germany and therefore place a high value on confidentiality and discretion. This is another reason why Mallorca is a popular place for treatment: the island’s vacation character offers the ideal prerequisite for disguising intensive therapy as a vacation stay.

PERMANENT SOLUTION MAJORCA

For some, Mallorca is even becoming a way out of burn-out. The successful start-up series founder Christian Reber, as the manager magazine “Capital” writes in its current issue, “fled from exhaustion” last fall and moved to the island with his family to lead a quieter life here after his breakdown and therapy in Germany. And many a normal earner also tries a fresh start here. Dirk Meinhardt came in May 2022 for a long break. The trained automotive service technician had previously suffered a burnout, but the rehabilitation in Germany had not helped him much – in addition to the breakdown for professional reasons, his marriage had also broken up, and Mallorca was “far enough away” from the divorce and the emptiness after the loss of the job that had made him ill in the first place. He signed on at the cultural finca in Son Bauló for “a hand in return for a holiday” and worked there as a jack of all trades in exchange for free board and lodging. He stayed in Lloret de Vistalegre for a full 18 months. “I was finally free again, able to make my own decisions without pressure from sales or staff.”

Getting back to nature, rediscovering himself and no longer living to work – he achieved all this during his stay on the island. “I learned to look after myself, to say no sometimes and not always to do everything 100 percent as quickly and as well as possible,” says the 51-year-old. Although he had to go back to Heilbronn last fall, he doesn’t want to stay there under any circumstances: “I fall back into old patterns here much too quickly.” The bad mood in Germany also affects him. “If you’ve lived in Mallorca for 18 months, you don’t want to go back.” That’s why Meinhardt is now looking for a job in Mallorca from Germany in order to build a permanent existence here. For the sake of his mental health.

Source: Mallorca Zeitung No. 1,247 dated March 28, 2024