Is Burnout More Than Just a Work Thing?

"Formally recognised as a diagnosis in 2019, when it made it on to the pages of the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), it's classed as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition. It's characterised by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from your job (or feeling of negativity or cynicism related to your job), and reduced professional efficacy,"

"The researchers surveyed 813 Norwegian workers who had reported feeling burnt out but found that less than 30 percent of them said their jobs were the primary source of their burnout. These findings suggest that a broader range of factors and pressures in everyday life could lie behind those symptoms. "People who experience burnout describe stress in their daily lives which leads to a form of depression," said NTNU psychologist Renzo Bianchi."

"Although some participants called work stressful and cited factors such as job security and colleague support, others pinned their burnout firmly on other life stressors. And this is not the only study to move away from burnout as occupational phenomenon. Whilst the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines burnout as "chronic workplace stress," another study led by Bianchi and others (this time involving 468 people) found that only 44 percent pinned their burnout symptoms directly on their work."

Burnout Syndrome was formally recognised as an occupational phenomenon in ICD-11 in 2019 and is characterised by energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from work, negativity or cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy. Recent research surveying 813 Norwegian workers reporting burnout found less than 30 percent attributed burnout primarily to their jobs, suggesting other life factors contribute. Participants reported daily-life stressors that can lead to depressive symptoms. Multiple studies from the US and Switzerland and a meta-analysis also indicate a substantial portion of people do not pin burnout mainly on work, challenging the strictly work-based framing of burnout.

Read at Psychology Today