Do you constantly feel exhausted, negative and overwhelmed by your job ? We ask the experts what can be done Burnout is a buzzword often bandied about when we feel a bit tired at work and overwhelmed by life. In fact, it is a syndrome with clear symptoms, recognised by the World Health Organisation in 2019, which includes exhaustion and feeling cynical about your work. It not only affects workers’ lives but also the economy.
It is not a modern phenomenon, either. Graham Greene’s 1961 novel A Burnt-Out Case is about an architect worn down by his job. In 1974, Bob Dylan sang about being “burned out from exhaustion”.
In the same year, Christina Maslach, professor of psychology at the University of California, started to research the phenomenon. She says: “Someone told me, ‘Lawyers call it burnout’ and that term captured the feelings people were expressing to me.” If you’re exhausted, feeling negative and your performance has dropped at work, you may well be suffering from burnout – but how can you get back on track?.
