Talk:Burnout (psychology)

Disambiguation
I think there should be a disambiguation page for burnout. What do you guys think? Duke toaster 16:41, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

Work-related burnout
From the passage:
 * Students are also prone to burnout at the high school and college levels; interestingly, this is not a form of work-related burnout, so perhaps this is better understood as a form of depression.

How is this not a form of work-related burnout? Surely, if one is under pressure to always do more work than they can handle *at school*, the health related effects would be similar to some else always doing more work than they can handle *at work*, wouldn't they? --ErikStewart 21:44, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Burnout at university (US: College) is certainly possible. The paragraph " [healthcare] workers who have frequent intense or emotionally charged interactions with others are more susceptible to burnout" can relate to the university experience too. Certain subjects (those in the design fields for instance) encourage a high degree of attachment to creative project work, which is criticised by peers as a deliberate process of assessment or development; if not monitered (and it usually isn't academically) burnout can certainly be the result in some cases. The actual level of work undertaken is a seperate, though not unrelated, variable. And of course the students/pupils almost by definition get no *material reward* (re Pieter Hintjens' post below). Graldensblud 00:26, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

It's not a form of work-related burnout, simply because school is technically not work. Work, in this context, means paid employment. That technicality should not diminish the serious nature of school-related burnout. Is there any research literature suggesting that school-related burnout is somehow different in nature? I don't think the article still says, "so perhaps this is better understood as a form of depression," but if it does, I'm going to remove that clause. --Dwinetsk 20:35, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Analysis
I've experienced burnout and seen it in many people, especially in volunteer projects (open source, and associations). My analysis is that it's not related to the stress or the work, but to the economic equilibrium of specific projects. This is also why burnout is usually (always?) work-related. What I think happens is this: an individual will invest a certain amount of energy and time in a project, expecting some benefit. The short-term benefit can be moral support but in the longer term it must be economic, reflected in one's standard of living. If the long-term benefit's don't appear, the individual becomes disillusioned and develops a strong aversion to the project, which shows itself as burnout. I've also worked with people who have experienced this, and found that providing such individuals with a good economic basis (e.g. a paid job) can cure the burnout. Money prevents and cures burnout. This is why charities that survive always end-up with a core of (low-paid) professionals. Ditto for open source projects.

To summarise:


 * 1) burnout is project-related.
 * 2) burnout hits men more often than women.
 * 3) burnout hits people after a certain period, usually 18-24 months, depending on the character and circumstances.
 * 4) burnout is caused by severe economic disbalance, caused by over-investment in a project that does not pay back.
 * 5) burnout can express itself as severe depression, anger, poor health.
 * 6) burnout is especially frequent in charities, associations, and open source projects where people work for no money under heavy peer pressure.
 * 7) burnout is preventable, and curable, by ensuring all hard work is fairly rewarded (economically, not emotionally).

There are many other forms of depression and tiredness but (work-related) burnout seems quite a specific syndrome.

Lastly: people who think emotional rewards (kudos) are enough to substitute for economic rewards are wrong - in fact emotional rewards often bind people even tighter to their projects, causing worse burnout in the long term.

If someone with better wiki skills than me want to add my explanation to the article, that'd be nice. -- Pieter Hintjens 10:34, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

"burnout hits men more often than women" I find this curious. If its true, why? Is it to do with gender equality in many professions not having been reached? Different expectations between gender?

"projects where people work for no money under heavy peer pressure." That sounds like university, too. Re my earlier post.

"Lastly: people who think emotional rewards (kudos) are enough to substitute for economic rewards are wrong - in fact emotional rewards often bind people even tighter to their projects, causing worse burnout in the long term." I concur. Graldensblud 21:28, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Graldensblud: the gender difference that I've observed in burnout cases is perhaps due to the different ways men and women tend to approach work. Presumably women get the same responses in different scenarios, perhaps in relationships. The cyclical burnout I see follows such a strong pattern that I'm now using it as a tool in managing workgroups, to help people understand the responses of others who are going through one or other phase. It is curious there is no literature on this, but the lack of academic interest does not mean the symptom is not real and quantifiable. If you say this also happens in universities, which makes sense, then it should be taken into account when designing workgroups. Allowing people to burnout is just inefficient, especially if it's predictable and preventable. -- Pieter Hintjens 18 October 2008

"Economic cause" is original research
I'm removing the following paragraph: "Burnout is a common syndrome in volunteer organisations, for example open-source software development teams, which suggests that long-term economic instability can be a contributing factor. Some reports indicate that burnout is project specific, so an individual may be unable to work in one context, but fully functional in another.[citation needed] Anecdotal evidence suggests a treatment for burnout, based on changing the economic model governing the work in question. For example, the switch from volunteer to paid work can apparently cure burnout.[citation needed]" This is obviously only the personal opinion of Pieter Hintjens who requested that his analysis be added. This paragraph was added soon after his request above. However, this is "orginal research" (in Wikipedia's terminology) and actually contradicts the wide body of research that has been conducted over the last couple of decades on this common psychological phenomenon (see the rest of this article and its references).

Pieter Hintjens, if you can find any documented literature to back up your personal analysis, you or other users are perfectly justified in putting it back in. However, I could not find any such thing. I've been doing a lot of research on the phenomenon recently (I will be doing a training on it, soon) and was not able to find any research backing up the claim that it is "project specific" or "caused by long-term economic instability." In fact, the only study I could find looking into economic factors found no correlation.

I believe that you are simply not talking about burnout syndrome but your own personal experience of feeling frustrated and unappreciated with a volunteer project you were working on.

As noted at the top of the article, the word burnout is often used to describe such feelings, but this is a colloquial use (i.e. meant to refer only figuratively to the actual psychological phenomenon). These feelings in and of themselves are not burnout syndrome -- a complex syndrome composed of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decreased feeling of personal accomplishment at work. Burnout syndrome, as I believe is stated in the article, is usually identified using the Maslach Burnout index. This index has become the standard for distinguishing burnout syndrome from any temporary and resolvable negative feelings about a specific work project or contract.

With regards to the theory that money prevents and cures burnout syndrome, I would be curious to see why then so many doctors and nurses suffer from burnout. Doctors are among the highest paid professionals in the United States, and nurses are generally not in poverty either. Following from this theory, they, doctors especially, should have one of the lowest rates of burnout, not the highest. It's simply not a sound theory, and I can't see any burnout researcher taking it seriously. I certainly didn't find one in my recent review of the literature.


 * It was wrong of me to assume that the burnout experienced by volunteers is the same as that experienced by doctors, but the converse is also true. Doctors may be experiencing something else that people call 'burnout' because they lack the language.  Maybe doctors just get really, really tired?

In any case, none of this "research" ("introspection" seems more apt a term to me) has been published that I've ever heard of, so it does not belong in a Wikipedia entry. --Dwinetsk 20:35, 14 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm describing symptoms I've seen repeatedly, both in my own work, and in the work of others. It is most definitely not a temporary negative feeling.  Please don't minimize my ability for analysis of my own work, and that of others.  Perhaps this does not match your definition of 'burnout' but in that case the language is inadequate, not my observations.  The symptoms are systematically the same: high amount of emotional commitment to a volunteer project, lack of economic reward over a period of 18-36 months, tipping point (often very sudden and provoked by some external event), emotional disgust with the project, rejection and cynicism.  It happens over and over, and if it's not in the literature, it's because the literature is ignorant.  And, as I've said, it's fixable with money, at least in some cases.  You are right to point to medical staff as a counter example but I think this is a different emotional condition.  As I said, the language seems inadequate.  Burnout due to economic imbalance is different from burnout due to treating people as machines, is different from burnout due to lack of sleep, etc.  I am only reporting the single type, my apologies for generalizing.  If you want to do research, look at people working in volunteer environments, and you'll find the data.  It is there.Pieter Hintjens 20:56, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Unnecessary sentences
I'm also removing the following two sentences:
 * "Burnout is often used generally to describe a lethargic feeling related to work"


 * "Burnout differs from other mental health conditions, such as depression, as it is not chemical but is related to work."

The first sentence is redundant because it already says at the top of the article that the word burnout is used as a slang word for general exhaustion at work.

The second sentence is simply not true. There is a chemical component underlying all mental conditions. The chemistry of the brain is what is producing the thoughts and feelings associated with burnout syndrome. Though such research has not been done, if you were to test levels of diffuse modulatory neurotransmitters (e.g. serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine) in the brains of sufferers of burnout you would see alterations.. The author of this sentence, I gather, is getting at the strong role played by environmental factors in burnout -- that it is not somatic in origin. However, "other mental illnesses" often also have environmental components, and some, such as PTSD, like burnout, are almost entirely associated with environmental causes. There is no solid reason to make this distinction except to try to alleviate the stigma associated with mental illness, but in so doing, we must not further stigmatize those mental illnesses that are endogenous in origin (that are "chemical").

In any case, there has not, to my knowledge, been any research on the neurochemistry of burnout for us to cite, so we'll just leave this question out of the article. --Dwinetsk 20:58, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I noticed an anonymous user stuffed, "especially EMTs and Paramedics" into a sentence about healthcare workers. Is this true? I've worked as both an EMT and as a case manager (a form of social work) and didn't find EMTs and medics any more prone to burnout than social workers, per se. Most of the research on burnout is on nurses and social workers, though there is plenty on doctors and psychologists. Have I simply missed some material in my research that shows burnout to be especially common among EMTs and medics? I certainly wouldn't be surprised, but I'm uncomfortable with keeping this in here if it isn't based in published research (rather than the personal experience of one EMT or medic). -Dwinetsk 20:54, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay, it's been three weeks and no justification for the EMT/medic thing has appeared. I'm getting rid of it. -Dwinetsk 18:37, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Can someone make a citation for the following quote? "While many researchers argue that burnout refers exclusively to a work-related syndrome of exhaustion and depersonalization/cynicism, others feel that burnout is a special case of the more general clinical depression or just a form of extreme fatigue/exhaustion (thus omitting the cynicism component)" I haven't found such a controversy in the literature but I'm loathe to remove something about a controversy without giving other editors the chance to show it exists. I just haven't seen it, and worry it's original research. Dwinetsk 20:22, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Compassion fatigue
How is Compassion fatigue related to being burnout? --68.112.75.210 09:07, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Missing considerations
A couple of factors that, from my experience, are important in burnout and are under-considered in the article.
 * Environmental toxins. Chemical, emotional, social. Like somatic energy, a person's psychological energy is not infinite. It's not just lack of positive feedback. Factors in the environment, often overlooked, can "short-circuit" that energy. Many "neuroticisms" are the result of under-recognized toxins. Noone wants to be neurotic; most people aren't born that way.

1. the job does not permit the expression of a person's best skills (that self-motivate and self-reward them), it's like a "poor coupling" between the energy source and the energy sink. A pianist might make a poor jackhammer operator. 2. the job is superficially appropriate but performance is hampered by unexamined obstacles, toxins, busy-work that sucks time away from people's highest-efficiency skills.
 * Job mismatch. Two examples.

This topic is *extremely* important in modern society; this article falls far short of even a good pop-psych magazine article. It deserves and needs a much more profound treatment. -Twang 21 December 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.100.245.213 (talk) 23:55, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Regarding the job mismatch - I agree that burnout is probably highly related to unsatisfaction in work, whether you are not getting paid or your skills are not being used effectively - or you even just don't like it (I've never seen a gas station attendant burnout analysis, but people probably just quit!) I got burnt out doing a job that I loved, which used my skills really effectively. It seems to me there are several discussions happening that all focus around people just working too hard to fulfill a job that has too many expectations. This doesn't seem to be said very clearly - are all articles focused on one profession or the other?

The second point of job mismatch almost says this clearly, but assumes that the job is superficially appropriate and performance is an issue (which it ultimately would be if you were burnt out). I personally found that my busy-work used my highest-efficiency skills, which raised my workload beyond my capacity. This seems really simple to me, but isn't addressed - are there any articles out there which talk about this??? Craftyvulpine (talk) 23:45, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Blaming the individual helps? A mobbed employee needs to change himself to avoid the stress? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.40.253.158 (talk) 22:35, 11 June 2012‎

Musicians and authors?!
I have read several books and articles about burnout and this is the first time I see a mention of a particular burnout risk for "creative" professions such as these two. The passage really needs some references, or it should be deleted IMHO. Aren't we confusing it with the "writer's block" or something? I mean, sure, burnout can happen to every professional, but do "musicians and authors" deserve a preminent mention in a syndrome that hits mostly "helping professions"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.208.31.222 (talk) 17:39, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Burn out
The note of burnout expressed here can be derived from an actual account of engaging for example many Engineering design projects, maintaining unexpected project deadlines, and dealing with new employee millenium people who have the interest and motivation, but lack the practical comprehension of the tasks at hand.

As a result of this prolonged stress, the person can be depressed, angry, and dis-allusioned to a point that has compromised the well being of the body in whole.

Burnout involves physical, emotional and intellectual fatigue that generally translates into weakened stamina, emotional exhaustion and feelings of despair and helplessness, and into the appearance of a negative attitude, equally towards oneself, as towards one’s work, life and people

Burnout is the exhaustion due to overwork and generally affects professionals that mostly have responsibilities related to people and that pursue objectives which are difficult to attain.

Risky situations are those where there is a misfit between the tasks and the means allocated to accomplish them or also if there is ambiguity and/or role conflicts. In these situations, the person may be unsatisfied or doubt the value of their work because they compare their results with ideal circumstances or because their accomplishments do not correspond to their true professional identity, to what they would really like to do and accomplish Here are the primary symptoms of a burnout :

· Gradual loss of satisfaction at work: the person does not feel like going to work and becomes aware of their loss of satisfaction.

· The appearance of minor health problems: headaches, backaches, stomach aches, repeated colds, intestinal problems, loss of sleep.

· The problems affect the workplace: the person interacts inappropriately with their colleagues or reacts inappropriately to work situations. He/she becomes increasingly prone to angry outbursts and isolates himself.

· The loss of productivity and output: it is accompanied by depression and increased apathy. The final stage of this exhaustion is characterized by total apathy and the inability to gather inner resolve to respond to outer pressure and demands. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.76.160.92 (talk) 01:25, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Burnout in health care workers
The article mentions burnout particularly in healthcare workers. I've been involved in some research on that topic:

Taylor C, Graham J, Potts HWW, Candy J, Richards MA, Ramirez AJ (2007). Impact of hospital consultants' poor mental health on patient care. British Journal of Psychiatry, 190(3), 268-9

Taylor C, Graham J, Potts HWW, Richards MA, Ramirez AJ (2005). Changes in mental health of UK hospital consultants since the mid-1990s. The Lancet, 366(9487), 742-4. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67178-4

Graham J, Potts HWW, Ramirez AJ (2002). Stress and burnout in doctors. Lancet, 360, 1975-6.

I don't know if they might be of use. Bondegezou (talk) 14:24, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

Depersonalization
...is not even close to what burnout is. If anyone wants to argue that it is a symptom of burnout, then "citation needed" as the saying here goes. --72.39.35.178 (talk) 20:44, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME
Very little exploration has been made of the great similarities that burnout has to chronic fatigue syndrome.

Perhaps the similarity of symptoms should be mentioned.

In the future, it may be seen that burnout is a variation of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Drgao (talk • contribs) 22:17, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Scientific American Mind
Could anyone send me the article via Email of burned out from ulrich kraft at the Scientific American Mind? I´m from Germany and don´t get the paper here.

By Kathy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.116.182.180 (talk) 12:06, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

Additions
Hello everyone working on this page. Would it be alright for me to make some additions possibly. I am new to Wikipedia and am a student. I am working on a class project, and wanted to check in before changing or adding things. Thanks. User: SJP-Chaudhary —Preceding undated comment added 04:54, 28 November 2011 (UTC).

Burnout in other situations than employment?
The article somehow presumes that burnout only occurs in connection with employment, whereas it can occur in other situations too, such as self-employment, studies, unemployment, relations with public administration, and presumably other situations. The article would be more balanced without the presumption of an employment situation. That doesn't exclude specific mention of the employment situation of course. Flexfrog (talk) 18:12, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

"They" vs "he" (or "he or she", if you must)
The grammatically incorrect use of "they" in the singular throughout this article makes it difficult to read and understand, especially in those passages that contrast the individual suffering from burnout with those other people around him (necessarily in plural).

The generic "he" is a perfectly good pronoun covering both men and women; however, I have learned that both the teaching and learning of grammar in Anglo-Saxon culture today is almost non-existent so that even native English speakers often do not know about this. Furthermore, the so-called "politically correct" types dominate Wikipedia and they instantly feign some sort of concern about "non-inclusive language" whenever I take time to offer an improvement to the writing.

Hence, "he or she" would be a grammatically correctly option, however stifling it is to read when repeated too often in a single text. "He/she", i.e., using the solidus, I would not recommend.

If we are to insist on "they", then entire sentences should be re-written to be in the plural. So, for instance, instead of writing something like the grammatically incorrect "A person suffering from burnout becomes obsessed with their work", we could write "Those suffering from burnout become obsessed with their work", or something to that effect.

I am not going to make the changes myself to the actual text for two reasons: Firstly, the matter bears some discussion, and secondly, I am tired of having my revisions changed back by ignorant Wikipedians with their stupid notions such as "you can't say it's grammatically incorrect if so many people say it". If anyone who would like to edit thinks I made a good point, feel free to change it as I suggested. If not, then don't. I am sick and tired of people disagreeing with me. Perhaps I am suffering from burnout myself. 194.22.238.164 (talk) 13:44, 12 February 2013 (UTC)


 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they 94.192.96.21 (talk) 01:03, 5 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I agree with 194.22.238.164 in the suggestion in her/his[sic ] next to last paragraph:
 * If we are to insist on "they", then entire sentences should be re-written to be in the plural. So, for instance, instead of writing something like the grammatically incorrect "A person suffering from burnout becomes obsessed with their work", we could write "Those suffering from burnout become obsessed with their work", or something to that effect.
 * These rewrites are usually not difficult to achieve, and they are certainly more comfortable to read. --Hordaland (talk) 08:20, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

Merge proposal
Merging Occupational burnout into this article was suggested at Talk:Occupational burnout/Archives/2015. Perhaps it would be best for all comments to be added over there. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:14, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Emphasis added, for people like myself who miss it the first time. Please do NOT leave a comment here.  Leave comments at Talk:Occupational burnout/Archives/2015.  :-)   HTH. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 15:07, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
 * By no means a mistake, since the templates on both pages link here. Fixed. 93 01:50, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

"popularity"
A couple of days ago I changed "Despite its great popularity, burnout is not recognized as a distinct disorder..."

to

"Despite how widespread it has become, burnout is not recognized as a distinct disorder..."

It's been reverted but I still think that "popularity" doesn't feel right here. Somehow "popular" indicates voluntary choices. Do people burn out because it's "in"?

May I again replace "popularity" with "widespread"? If not, why not? --Hordaland (talk) 14:07, 23 December 2014 (UTC)