Burnout is an occupational phenomenon under ICD-11, not a disease. Below is what is known about it, how it manifests, and when a specialist is needed.
What burnout is according to the WHO
The term appeared in 1974. American psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberger described his own exhaustion, loss of motivation and responsibility, and called it the metaphor "burnout."
Social psychologist Christina Maslach in 1982 described burnout as a syndrome of physical and emotional exhaustion. It involves negative self-assessment, a negative attitude toward work, and a loss of understanding and compassion toward clients and patients.
Three dimensions of burnout
Burnout combines three components: emotional depletion, depersonalization, and reduced professional accomplishment.
Signs include:
- Chronic fatigue, impaired memory and attention, reduced work capacity.
- Sleep disturbances: difficulty falling asleep, early awakening.
- Indifference to duties, negativism toward patients and colleagues.
- Headache, blood pressure problems, stomach disorders, exacerbation of chronic illnesses.
This is usually followed by anxiety and depressive disorders, neurotic and psychosomatic illnesses. Quality of life drops sharply.
What increases the risk
The most vulnerable are those whose work involves constant communication: doctors, psychologists, teachers, managers, social workers.
Working at a single stressful pace, a heavy emotional load, a difficult population. Lack of separation between work and personal life — especially with remote work. Lack of adequate reward, including psychological praise.
Risk factors also include excessive workload and pace, long and inconvenient hours, lack of control over work, limited support from colleagues, violence and bullying, discrimination, and conflict between work and home. Medical and emergency workers are exposed to this more often.
According to the WHO, risks also include underuse of skills, unclear role, job instability, and insufficient pay.
Freudenberger noticed that people prone to compassion and an idealistic attitude toward work burn out more often. Sometimes burnout works as a psychological defense — a person partially or completely switches off emotions in response to harmful influences.
Researchers also distinguish parental burnout — a consequence of a chronic imbalance of risk and resources in parenting.
What a specialist does
To determine the components of burnout, the "Diagnosis of the Level of Emotional Burnout" method by V. V. Boiko is used. It is a questionnaire with 84 questions, each of which corresponds to one of the symptoms. The symptoms belong to three phases: tension, resistance, exhaustion.
Tension — a feeling of emotional exhaustion, fatigue caused by professional activity. It manifests in experiencing traumatic circumstances, dissatisfaction with oneself, a feeling of being cornered, anxiety and depression.
Resistance — excessive emotional exhaustion that provokes defensive reactions: emotional withdrawal, detachment, indifference. Any emotional involvement causes a feeling of overwork. Symptoms of resistance include inadequate selective emotional responding, emotional and moral disorientation, expansion of the sphere of emotional economy, and reduction of professional duties.
Exhaustion — psychophysical overwork, depletion, leveling of professional achievements, a cynical attitude toward those with whom one has to communicate, psychosomatic disturbances.
When help is needed
If exhaustion persists and signs of an anxiety or depressive disorder are added to it, a doctor's consultation is needed.
Call 103 or 112 immediately if the condition is life-threatening.
This is reference material; it does not replace a doctor's consultation.
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This content is for reference and does not replace a doctor's consultation. Medical disclaimer