Should Burnout Be Conceptualized as a Mental Disorder?, 2022, Nadon et al

Abstract

Burnout is generally acknowledged by researchers, clinicians, and the public as a pervasive occupational difficulty. Despite this widespread recognition, longstanding debates remain within the scientific community regarding its definition and the appropriateness of classifying burnout as its own pathological entity. The current review seeks to address whether burnout should (or could) be characterized as a distinctive mental disorder to shed light on this debate.

After briefly reviewing the history, theoretical underpinnings, and measurement of burnout, we more systematically consider the current evidence for and against its classification as a mental disorder within existing diagnostic systems. Stemming from a lack of conceptual clarity, the current state of burnout research remains, unfortunately, largely circular and riddled with measurement issues. As a result, information regarding the unique biopsychosocial etiology, diagnostic features, differential diagnostic criteria, and prevalence rates of burnout are still lacking.

Therefore, we conclude that it would be inappropriate, if not premature, to introduce burnout as a distinct mental disorder within any existing diagnostic classification system. We argue, however, that it would be equally premature to discard burnout as a psychologically relevant phenomenon and that current evidence does support its relevance as an important occupational syndrome.

We finally offer several avenues for future research, calling for cross-national collaboration to clarify conceptual and measurement issues while avoiding the reification of outdated definitions. In doing so, we hope that it one day becomes possible to more systematically re-assess the relevance of burnout as a distinctive diagnostic category.

Open access, https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/12/3/82/htm

 

Burnout isn’t a result of the individual’s inability to cope—it’s about workplace culture, additional workplace challenges, not having control over your environment et

 

"Burning the candle at both ends leads to less burning time, researchers puzzled why, common sense not found"

 

"I always run my car engine at max RPM and heat, even removed the cooling to keep it hot, why does it fail so often?"

 

"I had a huge stock of food but ate it all quickly, why is there no food left?", ask the very confused people.

 

Perhaps it should be considered a social disorder.

 

Are there any longitudinal studies into patients given this diagnosis .I would expect many people with such a diagnosis have other conditions . No long term investigation leaves massive room for doubt .

 

I've been thinking about this in the context of my own work life. It seems to me that "burnout" is used to mean something really different from physical exhaustion. So you might have a physically demanding job, and you're handling it okay until you catch some mild infection - or maybe you have a patch of severe insomnia and now you're struggling to get through the physical tasks of the day, getting more and more tired each day. This is the type most of us here had as we tried to push through our symptoms early on. Nobody seems to call that burnout.

What people mean by burnout is psychological, some idea that you can't devote the intellectual and emotional resources to your duties that you used to, because you feel you've reached some sort of psychological limit. For example, you can't express compassion any more because you're feeling overwhelmed yourself, or you feel that you've "given it your all" in a psychological sense, and that hasn't provided the rewards you were hoping, or you no longer find those rewards to be enough. Or you might you start to feel the rewards are hugely offset by the punishments. I think the third one can happen in a lot in client-oriented jobs, where an enthusiastic, well-meaning person can find themselves on the end of complaints from difficult and unhappy clients. It can begin to feel that all their efforts are being thrown back in their faces, and there can be a sense of helplessness. Another contributor can be a sense of powerlessness, where work demands keep flowing but the person feels they are not provided with the agency to take the action they think would genuinely help.

To me, "burnout" is an attitude and set of feelings related to one aspect of your life. So it would not reach the threshold to be classed as a mental disorder. Sometimes mental health problems can contribute to burnout, because they can limit people's ability to cope with the emotional demands of their job. Conversely, if the feelings aren't addressed, it can lead to worse: people might react in destructive ways to burnout that could themselves constitute a mental problem (e.g. insomnia, anxiety, substance abuse, self-isolation).

I think its dangerous to turn every negative personal experience into a form of psychopathology, especially if the concept confers permission to blame others. Sure, other people might very well be to blame for a person's burnout, but if that's the case, keep psychology out of it. Alternatively, the burnout could the fault of no-one, but the person suffers from other psychological difficutles that make them prone to it, so in that case, describe the probem psychologically, but keep the blame out of it. I hate the way psychology has been "weaponised" and misused as a tool to make other people accountable for some problem. People should be accountable for behaving badly to others without us having to invoke psychology.

 

Yes, it's funny how the social in 'biopsychosocial' always seems to ignore actual societal problems.

 

We're laughing here i.e. "bejeebus" - do you have Irish roots?

 

I had burnout after four years of more or less single-handed development of a drug treatment that I knew might kill some of my favourite people. It probably did kill one. In the photos of me at the end I look about 101.

I have always thought of my mental state as entirely normal.

 

I've heard with the new DSM, more than half the population would be considered to have a psychological disorder.

 

I resemble that remark.

 

Or is it? This just in:
https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2022/0401/1289783-dublin-zoo-pandas-leopards/

 

But wait, there are other kinds of burnouts other than occupational. How about caregiver burnout? how about overtraining syndrome, which could be seen as a form of burnout?