3000 – Burnout - myth or reality?

Abstract

Mental health issues in the workplace have recently received considerable attention due to the industrial world's transformation to a service-based economy. Employers incur substantial costs that arise from mental disorders through lost productivity or absence from work. As such, mental disorders pose one of the largest challenges to social and labour-market policies in industrialized countries. Within this occupational context, burnout has become a favoured concept. What has emerged from research is a conceptualization of job burnout as a psychological syndrome in response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. Burnout has been associated with various forms of job withdrawal—absenteeism, intention to leave the job and job loss. For people who stay on the job, burnout leads to lower productivity and effectiveness at work. Consequently, burnout is associated with decreased job satisfaction and a reduced commitment to the job. People experiencing burnout also can have a negative impact on their colleagues. There is also evidence that burnout has a negative impact on people's private life and their social relationships. Thus, the question is not if burnout is a myth or reality but rather why this concept receives so much opposition from mental health professionals. The concept of burnout complies with the public perception about the development of mental disorders and the role of environmental factors. We should take the chance to find a joint model with our patients how disorders arise and can be treated.