What is burnout ?

1
What is burnout ?

• Teija Honkonen
• MD, Psychiatrist, FIOH
• 14.1.2004

2
Fatigue

• May be caused by a physical or psychic stress
  factor
• May be a symptom of almost any somatic disease or
  mental disorder
• Is not necesserily caused by the reason which the
  person suffering from fatigue assumes

3
The original definition of burnout

• Originally burnout has been defined as a syndrome
  of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and
  reduced personal accomplishment, that occurs in
  occupations in which a contact with other people
  constitutes a major part of the task and can be a
  source of stress (Maslach Jackson 1981, Jackson
  Leiter 1996)

4
The process of burnout I

• Burnout develops as a consequence of a prolonged
  stress situation at work
• Discrepancy between intentions of a motivated
  employee and the reality in unfavourable working
  conditions develops towards burnout via
  dysfunctional ways of coping

5
The process of burnout II

• Different models of burnout share the basic
  assumption of sequentiality
• However, there is no consensus about the
  development of the burnout syndrome
• Only few studies have used longer than one-year
  follow-up

6
Burnout - among all sectors of working life

• Recently is has been observed that burnout can
  evolve in any occupations and need not to be
  restricted to occupational issues related to
  service provision (Taris et al. 1999)
• A new instrument, the Maslach Burnout Inventory -
  General Survey, has been designed to measure
  burnout among all sectors of working life (Leiter
  Schaufeli 1996)

7
Burnout - a three dimensional syndrome

• Exhaustion
• Cynicism
• Lack of professional efficacy

8
Burnout and diagnostics

• Burnout is not a diagnostic category
• International diagnostic classification criteria
  do not consider burnout as a disease
• In Finland, burnout as such is not a valid reason
  for sickness absence

9
Health 2000 SurveyPrevalence of burnout in
Finland

• During the years 2000-2001 among employees aged
  30-64-years
• 2.5 suffered from severe symptoms of burnout
• furthermore, every fourth suffered from burnout
  symptoms
• the risk for severe burnout increased along with
  age

Pirkola et al. 2002
10
Burnout and depressive disorders

• Depression and burnout are not identical,
  although their symptoms may be overlapping
• At individual level burnout may form a part of
  the aetiology of depression
• More research is needed on the relationship
  between burnout and mental disorders