Is Burnout A Depressive Disorder?

One of the keys to eliminating burnout in the counseling field, is for the counselor to recognize when they are experiencing some of the symptoms. Kottler (2010) reports some of the signs of burnout include experiencing emotional exhaustion, having negative attitudes for your clients, feelings of lack of accomplishment, and becoming easily discouraged. Therefore, if we notice ourselves without the enthusiasm or drive for that passion which once drove us into this field chances are we may be experiencing symptoms of burnout. Oser, Biebel, Pullen, and Harp (2013) report it is always good to have

Burnout is a gradual onset with symptoms coming on over time slowly. Burnout symptoms may include physical exhaustion, hopelessness, negative self-concept, having difficulty leaving home, and inability to concentrate are just some of the symptoms. Due to the gradual onset of symptoms, it is often hard to detect early (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). In McCann and Pearlman’s article they discuss burnout as a, “psychological strain from working with difficult populations” (McCann & Pearlman, 1990).

As with any career, human service professionals face potential challenges that make it difficult for them to accomplish the objectives of their positions. When challenged with these obstacles, it becomes increasingly difficult for the human service professional to deliver the outstanding help and care a client needs. One such challenge is that of burnout, a reaction to the stress and strain inherent in a position that causes individuals to adopt a negative attitude about work and clients as well as become detached with the expectations of their position and its overall purpose (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 256). There are also physical reactions to burnout, including exhaustion, stomach issues or other illnesses, and body pain (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 256). This burnout can be triggered by a number of different factors, from difficulties in allocating scarce resources (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 249) and motivating clients to help themselves (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 256), to self-neglect on the part of the helper (Jackson, 2014).

should be able to present a couple of solutions to try. This can be delegating

49. Shriom, A. & Melamed, S. Does burnout affect physical health? A review of the evidence. In A.S.G. Antoniou & C.L. Cooper (eds.), Research companion to organizational health psychology (pp.599-622). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2005

Identifying the problem statement is the first step in determining what the issue is and why it is important for research. Once that has been determined formulation of the problem can been done which helps lay the groundwork for writing a research paper. In addition, the problem that has been chosen as a topic for research is, Are social workers at a higher-risk for burnout and compassion fatigue because of job stress? The problem statement is will educating social workers about burnout and fatigue decrease the possibility of burnout. Furthermore, this paper will discuss the scope of this problem such as the background and what the differences are in compassion fatigue and burnout and the purpose of why this research study is important in social work practice.

Blau, Tatum, and Goldberg (2013) indicated that burnout has been studied in various mental health workers, including; case managers, psychologist, psychotherapist, social workers, rehabilitation counselor, and intensive care workers. Due to the nature of the field and high involvement with the others, mental health workers are likely to experience burnout (Sangganjanavanich & Balkin, 2010). Multiple job duties can cause unnecessary stress within the work environment when daily task is not managed properly among mental health professionals. In a survey completed by the American Counseling Association (ACA) 75.7% of mental health professionals that colleagues coping with burnout are significant threat to the profession of counseling (Puig, Baggs, Mixon, Park, Kim, & Lee, 2011). Of those professional, 63.5% indicated that they are aware of colleagues who cope with burnout (Puig, Baggs, Mixon, Park, Kim & Lee, 2011).

According to Abdo, El-Sallamy, El-Sherbiny, and Kabbash (2015), burnout is considered an epidemic of modern society and can have a detrimental

The research that I have chosen correlates burnout and depression. It asks the question, “Is Burnout a Depressive Disorder?” It further reexamines burnout with special focus on atypical depression. Its main purpose is to study the prevalence of depression disorder in workers with burnout while surveying the overlap of burnout with atypical depression. (Bianchi, Schonfeld , & Laurent, 2014) The researchers have derived this problem from researching through previous literature and researches that discuss about burnout, depression and furthermore into atypical depression; in which they have noted that burnout shares key features with atypical depression. (APA, 1994; Quitkin, 2002). In their research, the researchers referenced a study that used more conservative cutoff scores for defining cases of burnout, have found no diagnostically significant difference between burned-out workers and depressed outpatients in terms of reported depressive symptoms. (Bianchi et al. (2013). The author of the study suggested that burnout and depression may, in fact, reflect the same psychopathology. There are other study that the researcher have referenced that further support the finding that burnout share the same similarities as depression. Although they have also deduced that the overlap of burnout and atypical depression has never been investigated in a systematic manner. Thus the need for the study as burnout should be considered a form of depression still remains a controversy

It is evident that the relationship between work stress and mental health has been established by numerous research studies. As discussed in Koesky (1993), the fact that all jobs involve some degree of stress makes it all the more alarming as to the level of stress experienced by individuals working in the human services. That is, given that these individuals are heavily involved in the lives of others, they often develop mental health symptoms that are characteristic of work-related stressors. In fact, “This involvement, which requires caring commitment and empathic responding, places workers at risk for a special type of strain commonly referred to as 'burnout'” (Koesky, 1993, p. 319).

-Maslach and Leiter’ article is about burnout and how it can lead to serious problems that affect a person job performance and quality of life. Burnout among different professionals is a social concern, so Malsach and Leiter discuss that there is a need for more burnout research. Both journalists have researched that there are 1,000 articles on some aspect of burnout, but none of the articles focus specifically on burnout itself. Malasch and Leiter want burnout research to focus on the many aspects of burnout, so people affected by burnout can propose their ideas and solutions.

Any work environment can have stressful aspects that can negatively affect the employees’ performance and may lead to burnout. Oftentimes when employees are stressed or burnout their commitment at the job may begin to weaken and they may lose satisfaction. Many organizations have recognized that workers burnout is the result of aggravated chronic work stressors and embodied by enervation and inefficacy. This author will discuss the impact of stress and worker burnout on organizations. Moreover, this author will consider the implication of stress and worker burnout on the employee, as well as the short- and long-term productivity of a business.

Although a bulk of the burnout research to date has focused on the role of organizational characteristics in the development of burnout, individual characteristics and social support have also demonstrated predictive value. The demographic factors that have been shown to be most predictive of burnout levels are the age of the employee, their marital status, and their perceived levels of social support, as well as gender, professional seniority, and education level. Age is generally considered to be the demographic variable that most effectively predicts the level of

According to Elkin and Rosch (1990) workplace related stress in a major problem in the U.S. and it creates a major expense for corporations. Koeske, Kirk, and Koeske (1993) indicate that all jobs have some level of stress but jobs that are in the human services have additional stressors because they “derive from intense involvement in the lives of others”. (p.319). They also refer to the type of stress experienced by individuals working in human services as “burnout” (Koeske, Kirk, and Koeske, 1993, p.319). Another factor that can influence our stress level is how we handle life’s demands. There are different ways of reacting to the situations we face every day of our lives. We have all heard of expressions such as ‘road rage’ and ‘going postal’. These are terms that we have come to identified with violent reactions to stressors caused by situations all of us face every day. How many of us have experiences in the road that

Segun el experimento de Caballero, Palacio, Abello, 2007 cuando se analizó la relación entre el burnout, el rendimiento académico con la satisfacción frente a los estudios, se concluyó que los que El burnout se correlaciona negativamente con la satisfacción frente a los estudios, mientras que el engagement lo hizo de manera positiva. Por otra parte, el engagement se correlacionó positivamente con el buen funcionamiento académico, mientras que el mal funcionamiento no se relacionó con agotamiento, pero sí con cinismo.