Burning Out: a Framework

Abstract

Burnout is a chronic, negative, affective response with fatigue and emotional exhaustion as its core aspects. The concept of burnout was earlier criticized for being mainly descriptive, anecdotal, and vaguely defined. This chapter briefly examines the state conception of burnout and its validity. A framework for the burnout phenomenon is then put forth where the focus is directed toward a more precise phenomenon, the process of out, which eventually may progress to the state of burnout. The purpose for this framework is to distinguish burning out from similar phenomena and to outline guidelines for operationalizations and prevention. The state conception of burnout may conceal the relationship between burnout and environmental factors. The chapter also introduces three interacting, hypothetical constructs to account for the burning-out process: a vulnerability, a goal orientation, and an incongruous, threatening environment. This burning-out process is consistent with some control, cognitive, and behavioral models of reactive depression.

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