Belly Dancer Blues: Tips for Identifying Artistic Burnout

*Editor’s Note: We are pleased to welcome a guest contributor to Raqs News who is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and experienced in this art form to share their insights on identifying artistic burnout.

The subject of mental health is impossible to avoid in creative communities. Not only are artistic pursuits a source of self-expression (that are driven by emotional experiences), but they also bring opportunity for connection, income, hobby or interest outlet, and coping. It’s no surprise that because there’s such inherent vulnerability in creative expression, things like reactivity, negative experiences, and conflict are also regular occurrences. And for those who engage in Middle Eastern dance for purposes beyond leisure, the artform can quickly escalate to a lifestyle that demands consistent energy and effort.

Artists regularly exert more than they get in return from external sources. While creatives get a wealth of inner reward from their craft, their physical energy can quickly become depleted by all the expectations and pressures that come with our field. Performance pressure, deadlines, community expectations, labor of platform/marketing, business (for some), and the constant output all outpace recovery. The abundance of inner rewards such as self-expression, mastery and growth in a craft, feeling connection (spiritually, socially, music, or self), and satisfaction of production and accomplishment are motivational. When external pressures are higher than inner reward, the dancer is at risk for a sharp descent towards burnout.

Burnout and depression can co-exist and have overlapping symptoms, but their source tends to be different. Burnout is the outcome of over-exposure to prolonged stress or pressures that eventually results in complete systemic exhaustion. The exhaustion is mental, emotional, physical, and even existential or spiritual in nature, depending on the context. Most understand burnout from hearing about it related to work or situations where there is too much responsibility and demands of attention and time. This feeling of having to carry on even though you find the expectations draining. Artistic burnout can look like emotional exhaustion, loss of motivation, or feeling disconnected from creative work. This experience tends to go deeper and longer than inspiration blocks or intuitive breaks/rest.

Symptoms of Burnout:

Fatigue

Brain fog

Irritability

Frequently feeling negative, resentful, or detached

Chronic overwhelm or overstimulation that leads to detaching

Low energy or motivation (bed rotting)

Sleep or appetite changes

Depression is a mental health experience (symptom or condition) that results in a disordered mood. If I were to simplify how I see the difference, I’d say burnout is a reaction to external factors like chronic overwhelm and depression is most times coming from within, or internal. Being depressed can also influence how a person reacts to the external world. Everyone experiences situational depression that is typically resolved when the source of the problem ends or changes. True persistent clinical depression is typically chemical and biological, or a neurological reaction to significant external exposures like trauma and loss.

Symptoms of Depression:

Chronic depressed mood and thinking

Persistent sadness, hopelessness, or emptiness

Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed

Irritability or mood swings

Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or self-loathing (feeling like a burden)

Suicidal ideation or thoughts of death

Low motivation

Physical fatigue or lethargy

Appetite increase or decrease

Sleep changes, like insomnia or sleeping too much

For these symptoms to be considered a mental health diagnosis, they have to be chronic, not better explained by other factors or conditions, and causing notable impact to daily functioning.

Neurodivergent Divas, I didn’t forget about you. I see you everywhere. Creative outlets, special interests, and hobbies are fulfilling sources of joy for humans. I wanted to highlight that hobbies or creative communities typically have higher occurrences of neurodivergent brains. This is because higher immersion in special interests creates more happy hormones like dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is critical to motivation and reward. Neurodivergent brains are happier when a larger chunk of their lives include special interests. The problem is that this increases risk for burnout because the craving for more will eventually lead to overcommitting, and that source of happiness becomes a source of stress.

Here’s an example of the escalation of special interests:

I love belly dance, and I have made goals I want to achieve. I’ve signed up for class and practice at home.

One class a week becomes two classes a week because I want higher reaching goals. I want to get to my goal faster.

Both classes have a choreography they are preparing for shows this year. I join them.

My schedule changed so now I can attend this monthly show/event. I want to make a new solo choreography. Now that I’m dancing monthly, I need to prepare new material.

My troupe shows are coming up and we have to schedule extra practices to get ready.

As time goes on my skills have grown to where I can gig locally. I found a local place where I can gig once a month.

I should make social media, website, and gig accounts since I’m working now, and I need the money to pay for the classes, props, and costumes.

Now my social media needs content, I need to make time weekly to edit videos, write posts, and create content.

I need professional photos, so I sign up for photo shoots.

I take a few extra work opportunities to fund expenses.

I take private lessons to hone skills and refine my material.

I start studying the history, rhythms/music, technique, and niche interests of dance.

I need to add props to the new shows to make them fresh.

This dancer has gone from about 2 hours a week to upwards of 15 hours a week of commitment. Humans, especially neurodivergent, tend to get excited and motivated by novelty, and the eagerness to succeed increases the reward. Unfortunately, this pattern goes in cycles for neurodivergent individuals and needs to be intentionally interrupted. Formal clinical assessment is the first step, and typically consultation about medication is considered front-line treatment for this population, as simply “stopping” this behavior is not effective; it’s a neurotype, or just how the person’s brain works.

Belly dancer blues are a common, almost unavoidable, experience dancers can expect over the course of their dancer careers. Personal struggles will ultimately impact creativity and expression. Professionals will feel frequently overburdened by responsibilities, expectations, ever-changing demands, and the unpredictable flows of income and work opportunities. Tension between dancers in the community creates feelings of isolation and aloneness. Fortunately, no matter the struggle, there’s plenty of supportive options. If one needs a more clinical approach, there’s an abundance of mental health professionals who can help with a variety of interventions. Formal assessment, talk therapy, specialized counseling, medication consultation, groups, intensive options, and community resources. The less favorable, but critical intervention, is behavioral or lifestyle changes.

Our lives need to be feasible and sustainable; we can’t just continuously overextend ourselves beyond our capacity. A big problem lies in our culture of normalizing individualism and glorifying over-productivity. This attitude neglects regulation and balance of our entire system of needs and promotes isolation and continuous self-sacrifice for worth. If you don’t set the limit, eventually your body and psyche will. Ability for lifestyle and behavioral changes will differ for every person’s context and season, and balance will wax and wane over time. The bottom line is you will eventually hit your limit, you cannot simply cope or muster more capacity to get through.

This article was written by a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. If you are experiencing a health-related emergency, please call 911. If you need mental health support, you can contact 988 or organizations such as Samaritans that provide listening services.