Learning to recognize job burnout

In last week’s column I began a discussion of burnout which, to my knowledge, was first described in detail by a psychologist, Dr. Herbert J. Freudenberger, several years ago. Freudenberger and others have described burnout in various ways, including:

• A debilitating psychological condition brought on by unrelieved work stress.

• A maladaptive response to stress in the workplace, reflecting an inability to cope with the inner and outer pressures of one’s job.

• Burned out individuals are victims of stress overload: they’ve worked too hard, given too much for too long, given up on getting any meaningful return, and the “rat race” eventually takes its toll.

Although most any job can have too much stress and eventually lead to burnout, those in which individuals are providing a service for others have been noted to be the most frequently correlated with burnout. Policeman and fireman, ministers, teachers, health care professionals and attorneys are high on the list. Other occupations noted to have a high burnout rate are truck drivers, stockbrokers and sales – intensive occupations. Several personality types have been found to be more prone to burnout:

• Individuals with high need for control. These people frequently feel that they are the only ones capable of doing their particular job and refuse to delegate authority or admit they need help with the task.

• Individuals who are chronically overcommitted. They tend to accept everything given to them, are extremely enthusiastic in promoting their employer and organization, but eventually become overwhelmed by their own enthusiasm and overcommitment. They have a great deal of trouble in saying no.

• Individuals who tie their sense of self-worth too closely to their work and its success. They are perfectionists and are never satisfied with their accomplishments; so, they push harder and harder for more recognition and approval, eventually collapsing from psychological and physical exhaustion. If the work situation isn’t as successful as they think it should be they tend to work even harder, and since they are never satisfied with their success the vicious cycle continues to escalate.

The three stages of burnout usually involve these stages:


Stage 1 – Chronic fatigue, emotional exhaustion and frequent feelings of being drained and depleted.
Stage 2 – Frequent feelings of cynicism and callousness accompanied by insensitive disregard for other people.
Stage 3 – The tendency to feel like a failure, one can experience frequent depression accompanied by the danger of developing lowered resistance to disease.

Next week I will complete this series on burnout of discussing ways of helping those suffering from this problem.

Copyright c 1991 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.