Decoding Burnout: What It Is (And Isn’t)

Burnout is more than just feeling tired—it’s a complex and often misunderstood phenomenon. In this post, I’ll explore common definitions of burnout and distinguish it from related concepts.

Much has been written about burnout, to the point that some people may feel burned out on burnout itself. But with the condition continuing to harm people and organizations alike, we should probably focus on it now more than ever. Worse, with research suggesting that stress is on the rise, burnout may become even more common in the coming years. Although the burnout concept has been around for nearly 50 years, it is often confused with other phenomena. This lack of precision is a problem because before we can address burnout, there must be a clear understanding of what it actually is. In this post, I’ll explore some common definitions of burnout and distinguish it from related concepts. 

Defining Burnout

Let’s start with a definition on which most experts agree: burnout is a persistent, negative, work-related state of mind characterized by feelings of exhaustion and negative attitudes toward work. One critical element of this definition is that the source of burnout is work. This distinction is important for differentiating burnout from overall health and well-being as well as other pathological conditions, such as depression (more on this later). But “work” can be broadly defined. Although traditionally viewed as the duties we fulfill in a formal employment setting, work can also involve the physical, mental, and emotional effort we invest into any number of life roles, including domestic duties like parenting or caring for an aging parent.

Another critical element of this definition is that burnout involves more than one symptom, making it a syndrome. Experts agree that exhaustion is the central component of burnout, though some view it as purely emotional in nature whereas others suggest it may also be mental or physical. Emotional exhaustion has received the most attention, partly because the burnout concept originated from research involving people in service professions, such as health care and social work. However, since its inception, researchers have increasingly recognized that burnout can affect people across a wide variety of fields, likely resulting in other forms of exhaustion, too.

Although some definitions of burnout stop at exhaustion, most researchers suggest there is at least a second core symptom involving negative attitudes toward work, such as cynicism or disengagement. These attitudes represent an effort to psychologically distance oneself from work. Some have argued that negative attitudes toward work should not be included in the definition of burnout because they represent a maladaptive response to exhaustion. However, symptoms representing multiple components of a broader underlying process are common in many pathological syndromes.

One of the more contentious issues is whether burnout includes a third symptom, as it does in the most frequently cited definition, which the World Health Organization has also adopted. This third symptom is inefficacy or a lack of accomplishment at work. Research findings on inefficacy are the least consistent among the proposed dimensions of burnout, with some studies suggesting it may be a separate concept reflecting low self-efficacy (the confidence we have in our abilities to perform a task).

How do we reconcile these different views on burnout? I have found the two-dimensional model—exhaustion and negative attitudes toward work—to strike the best balance of capturing the core symptoms of burnout without overlapping too much with other concepts.

Distinguishing Burnout

Having defined burnout and its core features, I’d now like to distinguish it from three concepts that it is frequently confused with: stress, depression, and low levels of resilience.

Stress. Stress occurs when people encounter demands that they perceive as potential threats. Although burnout can result from chronic, unrelenting stress, not all stress leads to burnout. Some forms of stress can even be energizing. Factors that can disrupt the connection between demands at work and burnout are when demands are manageable, when people have the resources to deal with their demands, and when people have enough time to rest and recover from their demands.

Depression. Depression is the condition I’ve found most difficult to distinguish from burnout, given the overlap in symptoms (fatigue, loss of interest or pleasure). Some researchers even view burnout as a work-related form of depression, and studies linking the two conditions suggest that prolonged burnout may evolve into depression. Despite these findings and overlapping symptoms between the two conditions, I think burnout and depression should be viewed separately for a practical reason—because their treatments differ. Burnout should be addressed with changes to the work environment, whereas depression should be managed by a health professional using strategies such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and medications. Misapplying treatments not only fails to address the underlying problem but could make matters even worse.

Low levels of resilience. Another common misconception about burnout is that it often reflects low levels of resilience, or the inability to manage or adapt to work demands. Although enhancing resilience can soften the impact of work demands, even the most resilient people can still experience burnout in a toxic work environment. Moreover, research suggests that the benefits of personal resources like resilience are contingent on workplace characteristics, such as having high levels of autonomy and social support at work. This likely explains why efforts to boost resilience might improve burnout symptoms in the short term but often fail to produce lasting benefits. Worse, these efforts may simply mask the underlying problem, resulting in more severe forms of burnout in the long run.

Conclusion

I hope you come away from this post with a better understanding of burnout and how it differs from concepts like stress and depression. What remaining questions do you have about this pressing workplace challenge? Please leave them using the comments box below. In the meantime, stay tuned for future posts exploring the causes of burnout and strategies to mitigate its impact.

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