Burnout is such a hot topic that one wonders whether physicians have become burned out hearing about burnout. The syndrome is hardly new; the psychologist Herbert Freudenberger coined the term “burnout” in the 1970s to describe the plight of child mental health workers in free clinics in New York City.1  (Interestingly, a wide range of professions that are intensely involved with people—including medicine, nursing, and education—appear to be particularly vulnerable to burnout.) Resulting from work-related stress, the phenomenon is characterized by emotional exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from patients (depersonalization), and a low sense of personal accomplishment. These dimensions can coexist in different degrees, rendering burnout a continuous, heterogeneous construct rather than a dichotomous one. Burnout differs from depression in that burnout exclusively involves a person’s relationship to his or her work, whereas depression is a more global experience, affecting virtually every aspect of an individual’s life. The...

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