Burnout Syndrome
Learn more about Burnout Syndrome with our article
First of all, Burnout is a slang term for extreme emotional exhaustion, most expressed in terms of our work. Feelings such as apathy, lack of professional motivation, fit of anger, passive aggression and an overall feeling of frustration are typical. Stress makes us feel powerless, and the body logically responds to the anxiety of the mind with symptoms such as headache, high blood pressure and pain in the neck, waist and chest. Disturbed or deep sleep, problems with wakening or falling asleep are other common problems directly related to stress that can disrupt our natural balance.
Occupational exhaustion syndrome (on English is burnout) is a term used in the 1974 article “Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement” by American psychiatrist Herbert J. Freudenberger. He noticed this syndrome among his colleagues. It is defined by specific symptoms and stages of development.
Fundamental Aspects of the Syndrome:
The fundamental aspect of this syndrome is an increased sense of intellectual, emotional and physiological exhaustion. Without a strict definition, it is considered as an occupational phenomenon that affects all aspects of the personality – physiological, emotional, behavioural, including the manifestation of suicidal moods, stroke, heart attack, colitis, ulcer, gastritis, obesity, migraine, asthma, sterility. In recent years, research has expanded to include a wider range of professions – police officers, teachers, journalists, doctors, scientists, and more. According to a study by the National Association of General Practitioners, 70% of doctors in Bulgaria suffer from this syndrome.
Christina Maslach and the basic areas of discrepancy
Developing interests outside the workplace is recommended to counteract this occupational disease – something that is done with pleasure. In 1982, the American psychologist Christina Maslach, together with her colleague Susan E. Jackson, developed a scientific method to study the syndrome of occupational exhaustion, which created the first test to assess the level of Burnout: “Maslach Burnout Inventory” “(MBI). The development of the syndrome is proportional to the mismatch between personality and profession. Christina Maslach identifies six basic areas of discrepancy:
1. Requirements for the employee and his real capabilities.
2. Striving for independence in work and the degree of the applied control.
3. Work effort and underestimation of contributions.
4. Absence of positive relationships with co-workers.
5. Absence of fair work relationships.
6. Ethical principles of personality and job requirements.
Psychology doctor Archibald Hart establishes certain differences between stress and occupational exhaustion syndrome that extend between physical hyperactivity and emotional exhaustion.
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