The real definition of burnout

- In order to come up with successful solutions to preventing burnout, we need to first know what we're dealing with. The exact definition of burnout has been an ongoing battle between researchers for decades. It wasn't until 2019 that the World Health Organization solidified the term. Here's their definition with some additional context for my research. Burnout is defined as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by these three dimensions, feelings of energy, depletion, or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one's job which can also be compared to feeling disengaged. It includes feelings of negativism or cynicism related to our job or our workplace. We may use language that seems hopeless. Like nothing is going to change around here. I'm always going to feel this way. Reduce professional efficacy, essentially not feeling like we're good in our roles or we don't have the resources to do our jobs. Sometimes it can feel like we've stopped adding any value. Remember the WHO definition states that burnout refers specifically to an experience in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of our life. This was a major win for experts and researchers like me who have been advocating that we refer to burnout as institutional stress instead of a life stress issue. Burnout was included in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases, the ICD-11. They didn't go so far as to call burnout a medical condition but it has kickstarted an effort to establish guidelines for organizations to handle this growing problem inside of our workplaces. In the future, I predict that we may see more therapeutic responses made available and policies enacted into law because of this inclusion. I really want to stress how important this milestone was. Now solving for burnout isn't just an individual's responsibility to solve with self-care alone. Don't get me wrong. I still believe self-care is important. We need to take breaks. We need to eat well, get proper sleep. Take time away from work and tech, et cetera. I've also stated that managers need to model self-care to change the legacy of burnout. However, these are tools in the wellness toolbox, not institutional solutions. To truly eradicate burnout, we need to make some pretty big organizational changes much further upstream. Before we move on, take a moment to self-assess your risk of burnout. Ask yourself, how frequently per week do I feel any of the signs of burnout? If it's more than twice per week and persists over time, then you're at risk. That's when you may want to consider seeking outside support.