Burnout as a social pathology of self-realization

Abstract

This article understands the growing problem of work-related mental fatigue in relation to the normative demand for self-realization that confronts contemporary Western individuals. The empirical basis of the study is in-depth interviews with individuals on long-term sick-leave with various mental fatigue diagnoses. The analysis of the interviews indicates that a common denominator was the search for being authentic at work by exploring and demonstrating one's capacities and skills to fulfill personal values in a working environment characterized by reorganizations and/or downsizing that the employees had little influence upon. The article shows how the consequences of these changes prevented an enduring authentic self-realization, giving rise to an escalating conflict between a standardized and unconditional self-realization. A discussion is then taken up on how this discrepancy was connected to a growing exhaustion, coupled with increased feelings of emptiness and low self-esteem. Finally, the fatigue symptoms are comprehended as the development of a social pathology in response to experiences of insufficient recognition where the effects of reorganizations and/or cutbacks tend to decrease common meaning. The conclusion is that the expectation of self-realization together with a boundaryless work and work organization may be comprehended as a stress factor for the individual, who is liable to develop fatigue symptoms such as burnout.