Occupational burnout

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), occupational burnout is a syndrome (group of symptoms that co-occur) linked to long-term, unresolved, work-related stress. Since May 2019, the WHO stipulated that burnout must be understood as being specifically work-related. According to the current WHO classification (ICD-11), burnout can arise from unsuccessful management of chronic work-related stress, resulting in an occupational syndrome characterised such symptoms as 'feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and reduced professional efficacy.' While burnout influences health and may be a reason for people contacting health services, it is not itself classified by the WHO as a medical condition.Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: 1) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; 2) increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and 3) reduced professional efficacy. Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), occupational burnout is a syndrome (group of symptoms that co-occur) linked to long-term, unresolved, work-related stress. Since May 2019, the WHO stipulated that burnout must be understood as being specifically work-related. According to the current WHO classification (ICD-11), burnout can arise from unsuccessful management of chronic work-related stress, resulting in an occupational syndrome characterised such symptoms as 'feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and reduced professional efficacy.' While burnout influences health and may be a reason for people contacting health services, it is not itself classified by the WHO as a medical condition. In 1974, Herbert Freudenberger became the first researcher to publish in a psychology-related journal a paper that used the term 'burnout.' The paper was based on his observations of the volunteer staff (including himself) at a free clinic for drug addicts. He characterized burnout by a set of symptoms that includes exhaustion resulting from work's excessive demands as well as physical symptoms such as headaches and sleeplessness, 'quickness to anger,' and closed thinking. He observed that the burned-out worker 'looks, acts, and seems depressed.' After the publication of Freudenberger's original paper, interest in occupational burnout grew. Because the phrase 'burnt-out' was part of the title of a 1961 Graham Greene novel A Burnt-Out Case, which dealt with a doctor working in the Belgian Congo with patients who had leprosy, the phrase may have been in use outside the psychology literature before Freudenberger employed it. Christina Maslach described burnout in terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization (treating clients/students and colleagues in a cynical way), and reduced feelings of work-related personal accomplishment. In 1981, Maslach and Susan Jackson published the first widely used instrument for assessing burnout, the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Originally focused on the human service professions (e.g., teachers, social workers), its application broadened to many other occupations. The WHO adopted a conceptualization of burnout that is consistent with Maslach's. There are, however, other conceptualizations of burnout that differ from the conceptualization adopted by the WHO. Shirom and Melamed with their Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure conceptualize burnout in terms of physical exhaustion, cognitive weariness, and emotional exhaustion; however, an examination of Shirom and Melamed's emotional exhaustion subscale indicates that the subscale looks more like a measure of Maslach's concept of depersonalization. Demerouti and Bakker (with their Oldenburg Burnout Inventory) conceptualize burnout burnout in terms of exhaustion and disengagement. There are other conceptualizations as well that are embodied in these instruments: the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, the Hamburg Burnout Inventory, Malach-Pines's Burnout Measure, and more. Kristensen et al. and Malach-Pines (who also published as Pines) advanced the view that burnout can also occur in non-work roles such as that of spouse. The core of all of these conceptualizations, including that of Freudenberger, is exhaustion. Alternatively, burnout is also now seen as involving the full array of depressive symptoms (e.g., low mood, cognitive alterations, sleep disturbance). The factors, background elements, and facets of the process leading up to the development of burnout is likely complex (see Figure 2 here.). Marked differences in understanding of what constitutes burnout have highlighted the need for consensus definition. Burnout is thought to be an occupational health problem involving multiple symptoms linked to chronic work-related stress. While such a syndrome is known to affect a person's health (as can occur with all forms of stress), burnout has not in itself been classified as a medical condition. Burnout is not recognized as a distinct disorder in the current revision (dating from 2013) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). With regard to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), burnout had been classified in the ICD-10 edition as a type of non-medical life-management difficulty. In May 2019, the WHO clarified what is meant by burnout, specifically connecting it to employment, rather than non-occupational life-management difficulties. In the most recent version (ICD-11), burnout is classified under 'Problems associated with employment or unemployment' in the section on 'Factors influencing health status or contact with health services.' The section is devoted to reasons other than recognized diseases or health conditions for which people contact health services. According to ICD-11: In 1981, Maslach and Jackson developed the first widely used instrument for assessing burnout, namely, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Consistent with Maslach's conceptualization, the MBI operationalizes burnout as a three-dimensional syndrome consisting of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Other researchers have argued that burnout should be limited to fatigue and exhaustion. Exhaustion is considered to be burnout's core. A growing body of evidence suggests that burnout is etiologically, clinically, and nosologically similar to depression. In a study that directly compared depressive symptoms in burned out workers and clinically depressed patients, no diagnostically significant differences were found between the two groups; burned out workers reported as many depressive symptoms as clinically depressed patients. Moreover, a study by Bianchi, Schonfeld, and Laurent (2014) showed that about 90% of workers with full-blown burnout meet diagnostic criteria for depression. The view that burnout is a form of depression has found support in several recent studies. Some authors have recommended that the nosological concept of burnout be revised or even abandoned entirely given that it is not a distinct disorder and that there is no agreement on burnout diagnostic criteria.