creative burnout research

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• World Psychiatry
• v.15(2); 2016 Jun

Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry

Christina maslach.

1 Psychology Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

Michael P. Leiter

2 Centre for Organizational Research & Development, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, B4P 2R6, Canada

The experience of burnout has been the focus of much research during the past few decades. Measures have been developed, as have various theoretical models, and research studies from many countries have contributed to a better understanding of the causes and consequences of this occupationally‐specific dysphoria. The majority of this work has focused on human service occupations, and particularly health care. Research on the burnout experience for psychiatrists mirrors much of the broader literature, in terms of both sources and outcomes of burnout. But it has also identified some of the unique stressors that mental health professionals face when they are dealing with especially difficult or violent clients. Current issues of particular relevance for psychiatry include the links between burnout and mental illness, the attempts to redefine burnout as simply exhaustion, and the relative dearth of evaluative research on potential interventions to treat and/or prevent burnout. Given that the treatment goal for burnout is usually to enable people to return to their job, and to be successful in their work, psychiatry could make an important contribution by identifying the treatment strategies that would be most effective in achieving that goal.

For many years, burnout has been recognized as an occupational hazard for various people‐oriented professions, such as human services, education, and health care. The therapeutic or service relationships that such providers develop with recipients require an ongoing and intense level of personal, emotional contact. Although such relationships can be rewarding and engaging, they can also be quite stressful.

Within such occupations, the prevailing norms are to be selfless and put others' needs first; to work long hours and do whatever it takes to help a client or patient or student; to go the extra mile and to give one's all. Moreover, the organizational environments for these jobs are shaped by various social, political, and economic factors (such as funding cutbacks or policy restrictions) that result in work settings that are high in demands and low in resources. Recently, as other occupations have become more oriented to “high‐touch” customer service, the phenomenon of burnout has become relevant for these jobs as well 1 .

DEFINING BURNOUT

Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. The three key dimensions of this response are an overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. The significance of this three‐dimensional model is that it clearly places the individual stress experience within a social context and involves the person's conception of both self and others.

The initial research on burnout was exploratory and relied primarily on qualitative techniques. Because the earliest researchers came from social and clinical psychology, they gravitated toward relevant ideas from these fields. The social perspective utilized concepts involving interpersonal relations, i.e. how people perceive and respond to others; these included detached concern, dehumanization in self‐defense, and attribution processes. It also brought in concepts of motivation and emotion (and especially coping with emotional arousal). The clinical perspective also dealt with motivation and emotion, but framed these more in terms of psychological disorders, such as depression. Subsequent researchers came from industrial‐organizational psychology, and this perspective emphasized work attitudes and behaviors. It was also at this point that burnout was conceptualized as a form of job stress, but the primary focus was on the organizational context and less on the physical characteristics of the experienced stress.

What emerged from this descriptive work were the three dimensions of the burnout experience. The exhaustion dimension was also described as wearing out, loss of energy, depletion, debilitation, and fatigue. The cynicism dimension was originally called depersonalization (given the nature of human services occupations), but was also described as negative or inappropriate attitudes towards clients, irritability, loss of idealism, and withdrawal. The inefficacy dimension was originally called reduced personal accomplishment, and was also described as reduced productivity or capability, low morale, and an inability to cope.

Assessment of burnout

As the characteristics of burnout became more clearly identified, the next step was to develop measures that could assess them. Various measures were proposed, based on different assumptions about burnout, and many of them relied on the face validity of the measurement items or statements. The first burnout measure that was based on a comprehensive program of psychometric research was the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) 2 , 3 . The MBI was specifically designed to assess the three dimensions of the burnout experience which had emerged from the earlier qualitative research. It has been considered the standard tool for research in this field, and has been translated and validated in many languages 4 . In contrast, other initial measures of burnout focused only on the dimension of exhaustion 5 , 6 .

This distinction between measures that assess several dimensions of burnout, and those that assess the sole dimension of exhaustion, continues to the present day, and reflects different conceptualizations of burnout. For example, the Bergen Burnout Inventory (BBI) 7 assesses three dimensions of burnout: exhaustion at work, cynicism toward the meaning of work, and sense of inadequacy at work. The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) 8 assesses the two dimensions of exhaustion and disengagement from work. Other burnout measures focus on exhaustion alone, although they differentiate between various aspects of exhaustion. For example, the Shirom‐Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM) 9 distinguishes between physical fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and cognitive weariness; and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) 10 makes a distinction between physical and psychological exhaustion.

There have been other changes and modifications of burnout measures over the years. Because the initial concern about burnout emerged from caregiving occupations, such as health care and human services, the measures developed in the 1980s tended to reflect the experience of those professions. Later, however, other occupational groups became interested in the occurrence of burnout, but had some difficulties in adapting the existing measures to their work situation. For the MBI, the solution was the development of a General Survey that could be used within any occupation (MBI‐GS) 11 . Not only were various items revised to be more “occupation‐neutral”, but the dimension of depersonalization (which was more specific to human services) was broadened to refer to a negative detachment from work and was renamed cynicism , and the dimension of personal accomplishment was broadened and renamed professional efficacy . More recent burnout measures utilized more occupation‐neutral wording from the outset.

However, some measures also added some new dimensions to the concept of burnout. For example, the Spanish Burnout Inventory consists of four dimensions: enthusiasm towards the job, psychological exhaustion, indolence, and guilt 12 . Meanwhile, some researchers were concerned that the more neutral wording meant a loss of the specific interpersonal issues for human service workers, so they developed a new measure of interpersonal strain 13 . It remains an open question whether these additional elements are essential components of burnout per se , or whether they assess experiences or conditions that often accompany the experience of burnout.

An important development, at the beginning of the 21st century, has been that researchers have tried to broaden their understanding of burnout by extending their attention to its positive antithesis. This positive state has been identified as “engagement”. Although there is general agreement that engagement with work represents a productive and fulfilling state within the occupational domain, there are differences in its definition.

For some burnout researchers, engagement is considered to be the opposite of burnout and is defined in terms of the same three dimensions as burnout, but the positive end of those dimensions rather than the negative. From this perspective, engagement consists of a state of high energy, strong involvement, and a sense of efficacy 14 . By implication, engagement is assessed by the opposite pattern of scores on the three MBI dimensions.

However, a different approach has defined work engagement as a persistent, positive affective‐motivational state of fulfillment that is characterized by the three components of vigor, dedication, and absorption. In this view, work engagement is an independent and distinct concept, which is not the opposite of burnout (although it is negatively related to it). A new measure, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) 15 , was developed to assess this positive state, and extensive research has been carried out in the last decade 16 .

The relationship between burnout and engagement continues to be debated, however, and a recent approach has been to use dialectical theory to synthesize conflicting views on the two constructs, and to develop an alternate model 17 .

Conceptual models

There have been various conceptual models about the development of burnout and its subsequent impact. At first, the focus was on the relationship between the three dimensions of burnout, which was often described in sequential stages. Exhaustion was assumed to develop first, in response to high demands and overload, and then this would precipitate detachment and negative reactions to people and the job (depersonalization or cynicism). If this continued, then the next stage would be feelings of inadequacy and failure (reduced personal accomplishment or professional inefficacy).

More recently, burnout models have been based on theories about job stress, and the notion of imbalances leading to strain. The first such model was the transactional one, which served as the conceptual bridge between sequential stages and imbalances 18 . Its three stages are: a) job stressors (an imbalance between work demands and individual resources), b) individual strain (an emotional response of exhaustion and anxiety), and c) defensive coping (changes in attitudes and behavior, such as greater cynicism).

Subsequently, two developmental models of the demands‐resources imbalance have emerged: the Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) model and the Conservation of Resources (COR) model. The JD‐R model focuses on the notion that burnout arises when individuals experience incessant job demands and have inadequate resources available to address and to reduce those demands 19 . The COR model follows a basic motivational theory assuming that burnout arises as a result of persistent threats to available resources 20 . When individuals perceive that the resources they value are threatened, they strive to maintain those resources. The loss of resources or even the impending loss of resources may aggravate burnout. Both the JD‐R and the COR theory of burnout development have received confirmation in research studies.

A different variation of an imbalance model of burnout is the Areas of Worklife (AW) model, which frames job stressors in terms of person‐job imbalances, or mismatches, but identifies six key areas in which these imbalances take place: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. Mismatches in these areas affect an individual's level of experienced burnout, which in turn determines various outcomes, such as job performance, social behaviors, and personal wellbeing. The greater is the mismatch between the person and the job, the greater the likelihood of burnout; conversely, the greater the match, the greater the likelihood of engagement. Initial empirical support for the AW model has been provided by both cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies 21 .

CAUSES AND OUTCOMES

Most models of burnout make explicit the causal theorizing that has always been implicit in burnout research: certain factors (both situational and individual) cause people to experience burnout, and once burnout occurs, it causes certain outcomes (both situational and individual). However, these causal assumptions have rarely been tested directly. Most research on burnout has involved cross‐sectional designs or studies using statistical causal models. This correlational database has provided support for many of the hypothesized links between burnout and its sources and effects, but it is unable to address the presumed causality of those linkages. The recent increase in longitudinal studies is beginning to provide a better opportunity to test sequential hypotheses, but stronger causal inferences will also require appropriate methodological designs (and these are often difficult to implement in applied settings). One other critical constraint is that many of the variables have been assessed by self‐report measures (rather than other indices of behavior or health).

Over two decades of research on burnout have identified a plethora of organizational risk factors across many occupations in various countries 22 , 23 . Six key domains have been identified, as mentioned earlier: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. The first two areas are reflected in the Demand‐Control model of job stress 24 .

Work overload contributes to burnout by depleting the capacity of people to meet the demands of the job. When this kind of overload is a chronic job condition, there is little opportunity to rest, recover, and restore balance. A sustainable and manageable workload, in contrast, provides opportunities to use and refine existing skills as well as to become effective in new areas of activity.

A clear link has been found between a lack of control and burnout. On the contrary, when employees have the perceived capacity to influence decisions that affect their work, to exercise professional autonomy, and to gain access to the resources necessary to do an effective job, they are more likely to experience job engagement.

The area of reward refers to the power of reinforcements to shape behavior. Insufficient recognition and reward (whether financial, institutional, or social) increases people's vulnerability to burnout, because it devalues both the work and the workers, and is closely associated with feelings of inefficacy. In contrast, consistency in the reward dimension between the person and the job means that there are both material rewards and opportunities for intrinsic satisfaction.

The area of community has to do with the ongoing relationships that employees have with other people on the job. When these relationships are characterized by a lack of support and trust, and by unresolved conflict, then there is a greater risk of burnout. On the contrary, when these job‐related relationships are working well, there is a great deal of social support, employees have effective means of working out disagreements, and they are more likely to experience job engagement.

The area of fairness emerges from the literature on equity and social justice. Fairness is the extent to which decisions at work are perceived as being fair and equitable. People use the quality of the procedures, and their own treatment during the decision‐making process, as an index of their place in the community. Cynicism, anger and hostility are likely to arise when people feel they are not being treated with the appropriate respect.

Finally, the area of values picks up the cognitive‐emotional power of job goals and expectations. Values are the ideals and motivations that originally attracted people to their job, and thus they are the motivating connection between the worker and the workplace, which goes beyond the utilitarian exchange of time for money or advancement. When there is a values conflict on the job, and thus a gap between individual and organizational values, employees will find themselves making a trade‐off between work they want to do and work they have to do, and this can lead to greater burnout.

In terms of outcomes, burnout has been frequently associated with various forms of negative reactions and job withdrawal, including job dissatisfaction, low organizational commitment, absenteeism, intention to leave the job, and turnover 23 . For example, cynicism has been found to be the pivotal aspect of burnout to predict turnover 25 , and burnout mediates the relationship between being bullied in the workplace and the intention to quit the job 26 . On the other hand, for people who stay on the job, burnout leads to lower productivity and impaired quality of work. As burnout diminishes opportunities for positive experiences at work, it is associated with decreased job satisfaction and a reduced commitment to the job or the organization.

People who are experiencing burnout can have a negative impact on their colleagues, both by causing greater personal conflict and by disrupting job tasks. Thus, burnout can be “contagious” and perpetuate itself through social interactions on the job 27 , 28 . The critical importance of social relationships for burnout is underscored by studies that show that burnout increases in work environments characterized by interpersonal aggression 29 , 30 . Such findings suggest that burnout should be considered as a characteristic of workgroups rather than simply an individual syndrome.

Burnout has a complex pattern of relationships with health, in that poor health contributes to burnout and burnout contributes to poor health 31 . Of the three burnout dimensions, exhaustion is the closest to an orthodox stress variable, and therefore is more predictive of stress‐related health outcomes than the other two dimensions. Exhaustion is typically correlated with such stress symptoms as headaches, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders, muscle tension, hypertension, cold/flu episodes, and sleep disturbances. These physiological correlates mirror those found with other indices of prolonged stress. Parallel findings have been found for the link between burnout and substance abuse 32 .

A ten‐year longitudinal study of industrial workers found burnout to predict subsequent hospital admissions for cardiovascular problems 33 . Other research found that a one‐unit increase in burnout score was related to a 1.4 unit increase in risk for hospital admission for mental health problems, as well as a one‐unit increase in risk for hospital admissions for cardiovascular problems 31 . Other studies have provided a more detailed examination of the link between burnout and cardiovascular disease, noting the role of high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein and fibrinogen concentrations in the link 34 .

BURNOUT IN PSYCHIATRY

To a large extent, the research literature on burnout in psychiatry echoes those previous themes. Workplace variables have been found to be more stressful for psychiatrists than other factors, and thus may be more likely to perpetuate burnout 35 . These variables include too much work, long working hours, chronic staff shortages, an aggressive administrative environment, and lack of support from management. Poor relationships with management and supervisors have also been identified as related to burnout among psychiatry residents 36 . However, research has found mixed results with regard to the role of job satisfaction in burnout, with some studies reporting no relationship 37 , 38 , and other studies reporting that job satisfaction did play a role 39 , 40 .

The rate of burnout among those employed in the health care field tends to be reported in the moderate to high levels, and it is generally believed that the burnout risk in health care is higher than in the general working population. Reported burnout rates for psychiatrists are quite similar to this overall trend 41 , 42 , 43 . Some studies have raised the possibility that psychiatrists show an even more negative risk profile for burnout than do other health care employees 36 , 43 , 44 . For example, one study found that 89% of psychiatrists had either thought about or experienced a clear threat of severe burnout 45 .

There are other critical risk factors that may be more unique to the field of psychiatry. Chief among these is the working relationship that psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals, have with clients who are experiencing psychological trauma. The challenging demands posed by these and other difficult clients can lead to greater stress and frustration among psychiatrists, which in turn can fuel the exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy of burnout. This process has also been described in terms such as compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious traumatization 46 , 47 , 48 . The burnout experience can become especially overwhelming when the psychiatrist becomes the target of anger, hatred, and even violence, as a result of negative transference 49 . Violent incidents with patients can be emotionally draining and difficult to manage, and can lead health providers to psychologically distance themselves from their work. The occurrence of violence can also make providers feel that they lack control over their job, and thus challenge their sense of professional efficacy.

Higher levels of burnout are correlated with more negative feelings about patients 50 and a poorer quality of patient care 51 . This link between burnout and poor care is supported by research on how burnout is manifested in psychiatrists, by changes in appearance (e.g., look of fatigue), behavior (e.g., becoming avoidant, making less eye contact), and mood (e.g., becoming more irritable and agitated, communicating poorly). In addition, perfectionist and obsessive traits may perpetuate burnout, particularly when the workload is heavy or stressful 52 .

Working with demanding patients and working with patients’ families have been found to be closely associated with psychiatrists’ levels of exhaustion and depersonalization 35 . These relationships reflect psychiatrists’ frustrations with the limits of their craft. Contact with patients’ families intensified these feelings, especially when family members expressed unrealistic expectations for treatment. Psychiatrists are emotionally drained by their inability to meet the strenuous demands they put upon themselves, and the demands inherent in their interactions with patients and patients’ families. In contrast, diminished personal accomplishment reflects problematic relationships with superiors and colleagues, rather than demands from patients. Colleagues provide the most relevant source of information regarding one's sense of efficacy in professional life. When those relationships are strained, it is difficult to find meaningful confirmation of one's job performance.

Research on burnout has always recognized a central role for social relationships in the development and resolution of the syndrome. Initially, the research focus was primarily on the therapeutic relationship between the provider and the service recipient. Over time, studies have confirmed that relationships with colleagues and supervisors are equally, if not more, relevant to the potential for providers to experience burnout. For example, recent research on attachment styles found that attachment anxiety was accompanied by more frequent incivility from colleagues, and was associated with more exhaustion and cynicism. Attachment avoidance was linked to fewer instances of positive social encounters at work, and was associated with a greater sense of inefficacy 53 . In sum, negative social interactions seem to drain energy and distance people from their job, and the absence of positive social encounters is discouraging.

CURRENT ISSUES

There are many interesting questions about burnout and engagement which are being studied in many countries around the world. A few inter‐related themes should be of particular significance for the profession of psychiatry. First is the question of the relationship between burnout and mental illness. Second is the question of the value of simplifying the multi‐dimensional construct of burnout to the single dimension of exhaustion. And third is the question of how best to ameliorate burnout in terms of treatment and prevention.

Burnout and mental illness

When the construct of burnout was first proposed in the 1970s, there were arguments that it was not a distinctly different phenomenon, but rather a new label for an already known state – i.e., “old wine in a new bottle”. However, there were a lot of differing opinions about what the “already known state” actually was. These included job dissatisfaction, anomie, job stress, anxiety, anger, depression, or some combination of them 54 , 55 , 56 . For example, one psychoanalytic perspective argued that burnout was not distinguishable from either job stress or depression, but represented a failure to achieve narcissistic satisfaction in the pursuit of ideals 57 . As a result of these critiques, subsequent research often focused on testing the discriminant validity of burnout by assessing whether it could be distinguished from these other phenomena. The results of many studies have established that burnout is indeed a distinct construct 23 .

Much of this prior discussion has focused on depression, thus raising the question of whether burnout is a precipitating factor for depression, and thus is a predictor for it, or whether burnout is the same thing as depression, and thus is itself a mental illness. Research has demonstrated that the two constructs are indeed distinct: burnout is job‐related and situation‐specific, as opposed to depression, which is more general and context‐free.

However, a recent article has renewed debate on the distinction between burnout and depression by claiming that at high levels the two states are indistinguishable 58 . This position is in contrast to the view that burnout is an occupationally‐specific dysphoria that is distinct from depression as a broadly based mental illness 22 . But close examination of the new research article reveals problems with its argument.

A necessary condition to examine the distinction between burnout and depression is a set of measures that provide a complete and accurate operationalization of each construct, and the new study fell short of this criterion. Specifically, the nine‐item depression measure (Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ‐9 59 ) used in this study includes five items that refer explicitly to fatigue (lack of interest, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, moving slowly, and feeling tired). The other four items include one referring to loss of appetite and three referring to negative thoughts (suicidal thoughts, feeling depressed, negative self‐evaluation). The measure produces a single factor score; clearly that factor is heavily weighted towards fatigue (Cronbach alpha of .88). It may be argued that these nine items fail to capture the full complexity of clinical depression. In any case, the depression construct operationalized in this measure is one dominated by fatigue, accompanied by negative thoughts. To measure burnout, the study used the SMBM 9 , which is a one‐factor fatigue scale with items referring explicitly to trouble concentrating, feeling tired, and thinking in a slow, unfocused, and unclear manner. Although conceptualized as representing three distinct factors of cognitive, physical, and emotional fatigue, the measure consistently reduces to a single factor of fatigue (Cronbach alpha of .96). Given the overlap in the explicit reference of the two measures to fatigue in the majority of their items, it is not surprising that the two scales are correlated highly (r=.77) 58 .

The high correspondence of burnout and depression in this new study reflects a large level of concept redundancy between the SMBM and PHQ‐9. The two instruments primarily measure exhaustion, leading to a strong correspondence between them, especially at high levels of exhaustion. The correlation was especially high in this study; earlier research that used these identical measures reported correlations at three different times as .51, .53, and .54 60 . These results are consistent with other research that finds that burnout and depression are inter‐related conditions.

Research using the MBI departs further from depression measures in its three‐component definition of the syndrome as exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. Some studies that have used the MBI and different measures of depression have found the following range of correlations. The Profile of Mood States (POMS) depression scale correlated with the MBI ‐ Human Services Survey (MBI‐HSS) exhaustion (r=.33), depersonalization (r=.30), and personal accomplishment (r=−.14) 61 . The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS‐21) depression subscale correlated with the MBI‐GS exhaustion (r=.37), cynicism (r=.47), and efficacy (r=−.21) 62 . The Beck negative emotions and attitudes subscale correlated with the MBI‐GS exhaustion (r=.46) and cynicism (r=.28), and the Beck performance difficulties and somatic complaints subscale correlated with MBI‐GS exhaustion (r=.61) and cynicism (r=.36) 63 .

The wide range of correlations between burnout and depression argues for a complex relationship between the two constructs. Clearly, they are linked to each other. For example, one study found that 90% of the respondents with severe burnout (i.e., daily occurrence of burnout symptoms) reported a physical or mental disease, with musculoskeletal pain and depression as the most common problems 64 . A longitudinal study found that increases in burnout predicted increases in subsequent prescriptions of antidepressant medication 65 .

A new understanding of this linkage comes from a recent longitudinal study in Finland, which found a reciprocal relationship between burnout and depression, with each predicting subsequent developments in the other. It was noteworthy that burnout fully mediated the relationship of workplace strains with depression: when problems at work contribute to depression, experiencing burnout is a step in the process 66 .

These studies confirm that burnout and depression are not independent. Each state has implications for the other. However, that relationship is far from saying that burnout and depression are the same mental illness.

Single or multiple dimensions

Although the original construct acknowledged exhaustion as a key aspect of burnout, it argued that exhaustion is not the whole story. Indeed, if burnout were solely exhaustion, then the word “burnout” would be unnecessary, as it would not be providing any added value. “Exhaustion” would suffice. To rename “exhaustion” as “burnout” would definitely be inviting the criticism of “putting old wine in new bottles”.

And yet, that simplification of burnout to exhaustion has been taking place not only among researchers, but also among practitioners. The driving force seems to be the goal of establishing a clinical diagnosis for burnout, so that health professionals can then receive reimbursement for treating individuals suffering from that condition.

This shift to defining and diagnosing burnout as an individual disorder or disability has been taking place in Northern Europe, primarily in Sweden and the Netherlands. There, burnout has been likened to neurasthenia or other syndromes with a quality of chronic fatigue. Sweden began using work‐related neurasthenia as a burnout diagnosis in 1997; soon, that was within the five most frequent diagnoses 67 . Researchers developed a similar diagnosis in the Netherlands, using clinically validated cut‐off scores on the MBI 68 .

To provide more precise diagnostic direction, Sweden in 2005 revised the ICD‐10 burnout diagnosis (Z73.0) as a difficulty in life management characterized by “vital exhaustion”. The signs of vital exhaustion include two weeks of daily experiences of low energy, with difficulties in concentration, irritability, emotional instability, dizziness, and sleep difficulties. Additionally, these symptoms must interfere with the patients’ capacity to perform their work responsibilities.

In the Netherlands, the term overspannenheid or “overstrain” is used to indicate burnout. This diagnostic approach estimates burnout prevalence at 3‐7% across various occupations, with psychotherapists at 4% 69 . In terms of MBI scores, Dutch researchers recommended that a burnout diagnosis should be connected with very negative scores on exhaustion accompanied by negative scores on one of the other two subscales (cynicism and inefficacy) 70 , 71 .

The use of burnout as a medical diagnosis implies one‐dimensionality, and it is clear that exhaustion has emerged as that single dimension. Moreover, since 1997, the Dutch census bureau has been assessing “burnout” among the working population by using an index of work‐related exhaustion (that is based on the MBI) in its annual national survey. As a consequence, public discourse about burnout in the Netherlands is increasingly limited to exhaustion alone. The risk is that a focus on just exhaustion (and its connection to work overload) will miss the distinct quality of burnout as reflecting a crisis of meaning or values. The exhaustion dimension captures the problem of lacking sufficient energy to make a useful and enduring contribution at work. But it is the cynicism dimension that captures the difficulty in dealing with other people and activities in the work world. Furthermore, efficacy captures the core self‐evaluation people make regarding the value of their work and the quality of their contribution. To ignore these core aspects of the burnout experience would truly be a “mis‐diagnosis” that could have important ramifications for both policy and practice.

It is interesting that North American jurisdictions have been reluctant to recognize burnout as a clinical diagnosis, partially due to concerns about a flood of requests for disability coverage. The lack of an official diagnosis of burnout limits access to treatment, disability coverage, and workplace accommodations. Alternatively, disability applications have referred to depression, neurasthenia, or chronic fatigue. An unfortunate consequence is that inaccurate diagnoses may reduce possibilities for successful recovery and return to work.

New research has begun to focus on an innovative use of the three burnout dimensions, which allows for multiple distinct patterns along the burnout‐engagement continuum. In addition to the two standard endpoint patterns of Burnout (high on all three dimensions) and Engagement (low on all three dimensions), this approach can identify people who are only experiencing one of the dimensions, rather than all of them 72 . A particularly relevant comparison is between people with the complete Burnout profile and those with only high exhaustion (the Overextended profile). The research findings show that these two patterns are decidedly different in terms of their workplace experience, so it is clear that exhaustion alone is not a proxy for burnout. Instead, the profile that comes closer to the negative endpoint of Burnout is the cynicism‐only one (Disengaged profile), which suggests that the experience of cynicism may be more of a core part of burnout than exhaustion. Cynicism is more clearly linked to the job environment, in terms of the poor quality of social relationships at work and the lack of critical resources, and that will lead to reduced job satisfaction and poor job performance 73 .

Treatment and prevention

The personal and organizational costs of burnout have led to proposals for various intervention strategies. Some try to treat burnout after it has occurred, while others focus on how to prevent burnout by promoting engagement. Intervention may occur on the level of the individual, workgroup, or an entire organization. In general, the primary emphasis has been on individual strategies, rather than social or organizational ones, despite the research evidence for the primary role of situational factors.

Many of these individual strategies have been adapted from other work done on stress, coping, and health. The most common recommendations have included: a) changing work patterns (e.g., working less, taking more breaks, avoiding overtime work, balancing work with the rest of one's life); b) developing coping skills (e.g., cognitive restructuring, conflict resolution, time management); c) obtaining social support (both from colleagues and family); d) utilizing relaxation strategies; e) promoting good health and fitness; and f) developing a better self‐understanding (via various self‐analytic techniques, counseling, or therapy) 74 .

Initiatives to moderate workload demands complemented by improvements in recovery strategies through better sleep, exercise, and nutrition have direct relevance to the exhaustion component of burnout. Cynicism, in contrast, pertains more directly to a sense of community or to the congruence of personal and workplace values. For example, an intervention that improved workplace civility among health care providers showed that cynicism declined as a function of improved civility 75 , and that this change was sustained at a one‐year follow‐up assessment 76 . A sense of efficacy, in contrast, could be more responsive to improvements in the forms of recognition from colleagues and leaders within an organization or the profession. An alternative proposal has been that people can make various changes in how they do their job (a process known as “job crafting”), and that such job alterations could lead to less burnout 77 .

Unfortunately, there is very little research that has evaluated the efficacy of any of these approaches in reducing the risk of burnout. Especially rare are studies modeled even loosely on randomized control trials. More common are studies with a single intervention group of volunteer participants for whom there are rarely follow‐up assessments after treatment has ended 78 . It is not yet clear whether burnout is generally susceptible to a range of strategies or whether it is crucial to fit the strategy to the specific context of a workplace to be effective.

The same basic points can be made about studies examining interventions specific to psychiatrists. There have been several recommendations about possible interventions, but no thorough research on whether these ideas are viable solutions. One fairly common recommendation emphasizes the importance of various forms of support, such as peer support groups, formal support via regular feedback and performance evaluation, or the use of a community‐based approach in the work environment. Interestingly, medical students and residents have also identified support as a critical factor, including support from faculty, peers, outside personal relationships, and counseling services 79 .

Another suggestion involves having psychiatrists evaluate their workload frequently, to ensure they are not putting themselves at additional risk for burnout. A related recommendation is that psychiatrists should develop a more versatile lifestyle, in which they diversify their work (e.g., take on a part‐time teaching job, do some writing, or extend one's practice to other types of clients) and/or engage in activities outside of work (such as hobbies and other personal interests).

Mental health professionals who have worked in the areas of trauma and palliative care have made additional recommendations on how to deal with burnout 80 , 81 . Notably, one approach emphasizes the need to take care of oneself – and not only in terms of personal health and physical fitness, but also in terms of psychological wellbeing. Professionals who deal with trauma survivors are encouraged to work through their own personal traumatic experiences in order to prevent becoming “wounded healers” or secondarily traumatized therapists. Professionals working in hospice and palliative medicine are encouraged to focus on spirituality and human nature, via prayer, meditation, or religious services. Other methods for self‐care include taking regular breaks from work, advocating for better social recognition of the difficult work that is being accomplished, and focusing on the positive aspects of life, both at work and home, so that one is not overwhelmed by adversity and misery.

Although various studies have provided excellent ideas to explore as interventions, the logistics of funding, designing, implementing, and evaluating these ideas remain the primary obstacles to better knowledge about the best solutions for burnout. For example, a Swedish group contrasted two therapeutic modalities for people who had been on long‐term leave from work with a diagnosis of “work‐related depression”. They found that both cognitive group therapy and focused psychodynamic group therapy were effective in facilitating their return to work, but found no difference in effectiveness between the two approaches 82 . This study raises two important issues for further research. First, to what extent does “work‐related depression” map upon clinical depression, in contrast to mapping upon burnout? Second, what are the common qualities of the two therapeutic modalities that could serve as mechanisms in treatment efficacy?

CONCLUSIONS

Research to date indicates that the three aspects of burnout do present challenges for psychiatrists. Many of the issues for psychiatrists are similar to those facing other professionals providing human services to people in need of help. But additionally, psychiatric work entails close contact with people in emotional distress, and in some cases the potential for threats from some of these patients. Both of these stressors make demands on psychiatrists’ energy, their capacity for involvement with others, and their sense of professional efficacy.

An issue of special significance to psychiatry is the alignment and differentiation of burnout and depression. The concept of workplace depression as a basis for workers’ disability coverage in some European countries raises important issues for practitioners, which have extensive implications for employees, employers, and insurance providers. Research and conceptual development that includes multidisciplinary participation is needed for definitive progress.

Psychiatry is in a strong position to contribute to the growth of knowledge regarding burnout. The question of burnout's status as a basis for disability claims requires precise and objective assessment. Further, psychiatric‐based treatments may be relevant to burnout, especially regarding return to work for people experiencing severe burnout. Finally, effective research on preventing and alleviating aspects of burnout among psychiatrists requires giving the issue a high priority within the profession.

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Creatives more likely to experience workplace burnout, per TBWA study

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By Audrey Kemp, LA Reporter

June 20, 2022 | 4 min read

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The findings show how the priorities and values of top creatives are changing. In order to retain creative talent, companies must reevaluate how they can support employees’ mental health, uphold boundaries and eliminate operational bottlenecks.

TBWA's latest study underscores the need for creative workplace change

A study released by TBWA Worldwide at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity today suggests that the needs of creative talent are no longer being met in the workplace, leading to widespread dissatisfaction and burnout.

“Creativity has the ability to move the world forward, but for agencies and creative companies to be leading this progress, our work cultures need to evolve — quickly,” said TBWA global chief creative experience officer Ben Williams, who co-led the study with the agency’s global chief strategy officer, Agathe Guerrier.

Analyzing data from three different global sources — including a global quantitative study, syndicated resources Forrester and Harvard Business Review as well as 68,000 online employee reviews — the study seeks to uncover how much the culture of creative work has changed since the “workism-fueled” 2010s.

Evidently, it’s changed a lot. When compared to the general workforce, creative talent are significantly more likely to be dissatisfied with their work-life balance and feel burned out. Boundaries, mental health and a sense of stability are revealing themselves as being the most important, and most neglected, needs among creatives.

“The findings of the research should act as a wake-up call,” said Guerrier. “Our talent is asking us to respect their time and mental space, to provide financial stability, and to deliver a better daily experience of creative work.”

Today’s talent works to live — not vice-versa

According to the study, today’s talent is driving the culture of work into a new era. That shift is driven by three demands of their employers: first, to help creative employees strike a healthy work-life balance, second, to achieve stability in their work life, and, finally, to care for their mental health by circumventing unnecessary stressors.

“As an industry, we have a tendency to use creativity as an excuse, as if working in a creative field was reward enough to forego such mundane notions as annual reviews, career paths, functioning processes and fair pay,” Guerrier said.

Much of this shift can be attributed to attitudes stemming from the Great Resignation, a term to describe the mass voluntary exodus of employees from the workplace. Many of its participants rethought their careers, work-life balance and working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although talent across specialties agree upon these factors, they matter significantly more to creatives, with 63% of creatives strongly agreeing on the importance of a healthy work-life balance—compared to 44% in the general population sample.

According to Williams, companies are falling short on the day-to-day employee experience, as creatives are two times more likely to find “the daily grind,” be it approvals, task management or daily commutes, degrading to their work experience and flow.

What employers can do about it

TBWA’s study identifies not only clear problems in the workplace, but also potential solutions to these issues.

The study’s author suggests that creative organizations should identify and nullify the operational burdens that hinder workflow and efficiency while also respecting the boundaries of their employees. They also argue that employers should shift their focus from high-level ethos to pragmatic issues, like annual reviews, growth plans and compensation.

“We’re seeing talent increasingly ask for their boundaries to be respected, help achieving their goals and for support with their mental wellbeing,” Williams said. “They know what they want, and we need to be giving it to them.”

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How to combat creative burnout

Your camera grows heavy in your grasp. Color palettes begin to bleed into each other. Fonts all begin to look the same.

If you can relate to any one of these feelings, you are not alone. Burnout is an ever-looming threat for today’s creators, many of whom face growing demands and fewer barriers between work and home life. Defined by feelings of physical and mental exhaustion, this occupational hazard is hardly unique to the creative industry. In a 2021 survey conducted by McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.org, 42 percent of women and 35 percent of men reported feeling burned out “often” or “almost always”.

Creative professionals aren’t the only ones burned out. Unlike professions such as health care or social work, however, burnout often carries a stigma when it comes to the fields of photography, design, and other professions dismissed by many in the outside world as fun hobbies rather than actual work. In truth, attitudes like these only make recognizing and overcoming burnout all the more challenging, and potentially increase the mental health risks for creative professionals.

To resist burnout and ensure a healthy connection with your craft, here are some helpful tips:

Recognize the signs of creative burnout

As with most issues affecting our physical and mental health, prevention is always preferable to intervention after the fact. This means staying on guard and recognizing warning signs as they begin to set in — while at the same time being mindful of the fact that creative burnout may manifest differently depending on the person.

Physical fatigue

Feeling spent after a long week of work is one thing. Starting every day with half a tank is another. Mental and physical exhaustion are deeply intertwined, bound together by a weariness that comes when you have been drained for what feels like forever with no end in sight. In these moments, banking more sleep cannot hurt. If, however, you are lethargic even after clocking the recommended 8+ hours a night, the problem may not be about how hard you are pushing your body.

Increased irritability

Archie Sessions is an art director for the creative agency Stoke. After 14 years in the business, he’s come to recognize rising frustration levels as one of his clearest signals that he’s entering the burnout danger zone. “Venting and making jokes about a project is how I get work stress off my chest,” he said. “But sometimes, there’s a little more vinegar in it than usual, and that’s when I know — this situation is starting to get toxic.”

Feelings of dread toward work

For many, contributing to irritability is a deep sense of despair that knots the stomach each Sunday evening and — in the worst cases — each morning before the workday begins. This condition often goes beyond resenting the buzz of your alarm or wishing Wednesday were Friday, all of which are common thoughts of the modern worker. Instead, it resembles a kind of despair that saps the joy out of even your off-hours.

Procrastination

Often, the dread around work becomes bad enough that doing just about anything else seems preferable. Emails go unanswered. Client feedback piles up. Deadlines zip by unmet. Soon, you are buried so deep there seems to be little point in even trying to dig yourself out.

Increased self-doubt

Finally, a feeling that you are somehow not good enough seeps in, particularly in the case of difficult clients who seem to reject every one of your ideas out of hand. “There’s this powerlessness, and a subterranean kind of self-loathing,” Sessions said. “Personally, I begin to think I’m not talented enough after a certain point and imposter syndrome sets in.”

Preventing creative burnout

As with recognizing burnout, preventing it will depend on the person. For Sessions, meditation, time with family, and retreating to nature all help him turn the tide of mental and physical depletion. Learning new skills also helps. “I’ve recently started researching Japanese woodworking,” he said. Central to each approach, he noted, is the need to unplug from the digital realm that dominates so much of his work life. “There are no screens involved.”

Make ideas tangible

Disrupting burnout by moving offline does not have to apply to off-hours only. Adding a tactile dimension to your creative work can serve to reground and renew your relationship with your craft as you see your creations take shape in the physical realm. In practice, this could mean turning to film photography , or picking up a pen and a notepad and simply allowing yourself to sketch on paper.

Of course, not everyone has the option to cut creative ties — even temporarily — with the digital realm. In this case, something as simple as switching from working on a desktop to an iPad or embracing new tools can help inject a much needed sense of novelty into the process.

Take time to consume media, rather than just create it

Other times, the best thing to do for your creative supply is to put down the camera, pen, or iPad altogether. In these moments, it can help to take time to engage with others’ art, rather than focus entirely on generating your own. Museums, movies, galleries, plays, concerts, photography collections and other art books — all can serve as reservoirs of inspiration and restoration when your own reserves are low.

Take breaks

Sometimes, despite even his best efforts, Sessions finds himself wishing he could walk away from the creative industry entirely. “I start thinking about leaving it all behind and becoming a mailman somewhere, maybe out in the Midwest,” he said. It’s in those moments when he knows he’s hit his rock bottom — he’s officially burned out.

When this happens, there is little else to do but take a break. “There’s no other replacement for simply not doing the thing you’re burned out on,” Sessions said. For him, the path to recovery begins with stepping away earlier at night to make sure he has time to wind down and get a good night’s rest. From there, he takes a day off when he can and keeps his computer off as much as possible during the weekend. “It’s about filling your life with other things to the point that you’re able to better control how invested you are in a project or client,” he said.

Make lasting changes

That said, time off is not always an option. There is also no guarantee that you won’t simply slip back into your old, exhausting routine as soon as you’re back at your desk. To really step off the creative burnout carousel, you may have to have difficult conversations with clients and higher-ups. “There may be dynamics in a team that need to change, or a certain issue you need to address with the people you’re working with,” Sessions said.

Perhaps now is the time to end an engagement, or at the very least recalibrate the collaborative process to make sure it’s working equally for all parties. For those working at a creative agency or in-house, seeking a reassignment might be the best way forward for all parties involved.

Rethinking creative burnout

We experience burnout as individuals, but often the driving force has less to do with personal choices than demands brought on by larger forces. “Your clients are always going to want everything yesterday,” Sessions said.

But the good news is you are not powerless. By setting expectations and boundaries up front, you can ensure a process that is sustainable over the short and long term. Meanwhile, experiencing art and creation outside the pressures of pleasing stakeholders can bring more freedom back into the creative process. Finally, spending time consuming art can remind you what drew you to creating it in the first place.

https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2021/11/24/preventing-plagiarism-a-guide-for-students-and-educators

https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2021/11/19/7-tips-to-building-strong-relationships-with-clients-in-a-remote-environment

https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2021/11/19/creating-a-mobile-first-design-for-your-website

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Creativity can't be forced. Take restorative breaks, zone out to find new inspiration

Siona Peterous

Andee Tagle

Do you ever try to be creative but despite all your efforts, struggle to access that creative voice in your head? If you're anything like me, you may feel the pressure to immediately snap out of this creative rut — kind of like the artists we see in movies, who overcome their slumps by magically finding a new source of inspiration.

But as Sarah Urist Green points out, that's easier said than done. Green is a curator, an arts educator and the producer behind the PBS series The Art Assignment . She is also the author of You Are an Artist: Assignments to Spark Creation.

"I would get intimidated if creativity and making art was something where you had to have this great inspiration," she says. "For me and for most artists who I know, it doesn't work like that."

Overcoming a creative rut isn't easy. But it isn't at all impossible — and it doesn't require a eureka moment. Here are tips from our experts to help you recharge your creativity.

Remind yourself that everyone can be creative

The first thing to remember is that we're all creative people. As Green says, creativity isn't just about visual arts or music or literature, and you don't need to be some sort of a savant to use it.

"I think we are already creative beings and how you use that [creativity] is up to you," she says. "You don't need to have particular skills; you don't need to have particular materials."

Listen to Life Kit

This story is adapted from an episode of Life Kit, NPR's podcast with tools to help you get it together. Listen to the episode at the top of the page, or find it here .

Using your creativity, for example, can look like finding a quicker route to get home, managing your team's schedule or adding an ingredient to a familiar recipe. Working with a more expansive definition of creativity can help you embrace these different creative activities.

Understand how creativity works in your brain

Once you've reminded yourself that you're a creative being, the next step is to learn how creativity functions in your brain. Understanding this can help you make wiser decisions that nurture creativity, rather than those that fuel burnout.

Dr. Wendy Suzuki is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the New York University Center for Neural Science. You may have heard that creative people are right-brained , but Suzuki says this isn't always true. Instead, she says research and brain scans show that creativity involves three major parts of our brain: the salience network, the executive control network and the default mode network.

Research also shows that mind-wandering is a critical step in creative thinking, especially for those who have hit a roadblock. According to the American Psychology Association , mind-wandering happens when your brain starts thinking about things unrelated to the task at hand. This includes doodling in a meeting or thinking of random scenarios while you're standing in line. These moments may feel like a nuisance to you, but it may be creativity working itself out in real-time.

Your brain, quite literally, needs time to relax and wander to reignite that creative spark; conversely, not having enough time to mind-wander may fuel a creative rut.

Take intentional breaks

Setting aside time for your mind to wander sounds great in theory but can be difficult in practice.

Rahaf Harfoush , a digital anthropologist and the host of The Thought Experiment , says this isn't your fault. She says we live in a work-obsessed culture that shames people for taking breaks. The premise of her book is that creativity is a stop-start cycle, meaning if you're pushing yourself to hustle, you must also take time to float and take breaks.

Harfoush also says there are different types of rest, and some are more critical to our wellbeing than others. "What our brains actually need is periods of destimulation, which means no screens, no emails, no audiobooks. Your brain needs a second to breathe, to catch up, to integrate all the content that we've consumed."

One suggestion Harfoush has for people who want to work through a creative rut, and incorporate moments of rest into their lives, is to stare at a wall for 15 minutes every now-and-then. No phones, no TV, no music. These 15 minutes on any busy day can make a huge difference in your wellbeing.

Don't force yourself to keep going

Burnout Isn't Just Exhaustion. Here's How To Deal With It

Another factor that fuels burnout is high levels of stress. I'm sure most of us can think of a time when a quickly approaching deadline reignited our creativity and allowed us to push through.

But Harfoush warns that using stress and pressure to get things done can't be a long-term solution. Relying too heavily on them as motivators can cause or worsen your creative rut, anxiety and depression. And to make things worse, it can lead to chronic burnouts in the future.

When you feel well-rested, start by doing something

Once you know what creativity is, how it works and what fuels a creative rut, you may wonder how you can escape it and move forward.

Nerissa Bradley is a multi-disciplinary artist who acts, sings, does voiceover work, as well as improv and live comedy. Before she performed on stage, Bradley struggled with a years-long creative rut. When she decided to engage with the arts again, she invited friends over to paint with them for fun. Soon, she started attending improv classes, which eventually led to her live performances.

Having a hobby is good for you. Here's how to find one

Making Art Is Good For Your Health. Here's How To Start A Habit

It was that simple: Bradley stepped out of a creative rut by engaging with creative activities that felt good to her.

So if you're hoping to reconnect with your creative voice, start by doing something: write a new joke, take a one-day class, doodle something silly. Just make sure you're enjoying the process, rather than trying to meet any expectations.

Remember, you have to trust yourself and believe that creating something is the first step to working through a creative rut.

The podcast portion of this story was produced by Andee Tagle.

We'd love to hear from you. If you have a good life hack, leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected]. Your tip could appear in an upcoming episode.

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Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996

Helping you thrive as a 21st Century Creative

The Dark Side of Creativity: Burnout

By Mark McGuinness

Photo by computerhotline

Who wouldn’t want to be a creative rock star ?

After all, rock stars astound their audience , they get paid to do what they love , they are worshipped by adoring fans , they can be who they want to be and work with other cool creative dudes . Some of them have so much money, fame and influence, they can put them to good use and give something back to the world around them.

But the rock star life can get pretty ugly. The job itself is demanding enough – composing new material to order, recording it in marathon studio sessions and promoting it on punishing tours. Dealing with eccentric colleagues, brutal management and hysterical fans would try the patience of a saint – and most rock stars are not saints. And it’s all played out in the glare of a media who would like nothing more to fill the front pages than your grisly, spectacular demise.

No wonder some of them wonder why they got into the business in the first place. The original spark of creative inspiration was extinguished long ago. All that’s left is a treadmill of writing, recording, touring, parties, arguments, drink, drugs and despair.

For me, film of the year in 2007 was Control . Having been a fan of Joy Division’s music for over 20 years I wasn’t exactly expecting a feelgood movie, but I was blown away by the devastating power of the story it told. It’s easy to romanticise artists who die young, like John Keats, Sylvia Plath, Jim Morrison or Joy Division’s singer Ian Curtis. But Anton Corbijn’s film shows the human tragedy behind the rock ‘n’ roll myth. As the film develops, the band’s growing fame and artistic success only serve to exacerbate Curtis’ personal problems. On the verge of a US tour to promote their second album, he fails to share the excitement of the rest of the band:

Unknown Pleasures [Joy Division’s first album] was it. I was happy. I never meant it to grow like this. When I’m up there singing they don’t know how much I give, how it affects me.

In this case a number of factors contributed to the artist’s downfall – including epilepsy, depression and his tortured love life. But maybe we should also factor in the nature of creativity itself. Ian Curtis is not the only artist who has listened to the voice of the Muse, only for it to turn into a Siren song of death and destruction.

Now you may not be battling as many demons as Ian Curtis. And your work may not have the same existential intensity as Joy Division’s music. But if you take your creativity remotely seriously, you can probably recognise a tendency to one or more of the following symptoms of creative burnout . Tick too many of the boxes on this list and it could be time to take a break – for the sake of your health and well-being as well as for the quality of your work.

For Tim Ferriss , ‘work for work’s sake’ is the cardinal sin of the entrepreneur, to be avoided at all costs. For an artist, it’s taken for granted. We’ve already looked at the role of intrinsic motivation and creativity – basically, we fall in love with our art and pursue it because it fascinates us. There are many amusing stories of creative types wandering around in a trance or locked away in their rooms, so taken up with their work that they forget to eat, shower or stay in touch with the world around them. One of my favourites is the author Steven Pressfield’s account of spending weeks writing in his little house with no TV or newspapers, only to be surprised when he overheard a neighbour talking about the resignation of the President.

I had missed Watergate completely.

This single-minded dedication is admirable and necessary for creative work – up to a point. But there’s an imperceptible turning point, beyond which dedication spills over into obsession. And the work can suffer as much as the artist. You go beyond working hard, and start trying to force things, getting frustrated when it won’t turn out the way you want to. If you’re wise, you take the proliferation of typos and mistakes as a hint that it’s time to take a break, recharge and return later on with a clearer head. Otherwise you keep banging your head against that brick wall. The artist has become a workaholic.

But this kind of obsession isn’t just about overwork – it can get to the point where your creative vision consumes all your attention and everyday life fades out of your awareness. The consequences depend on the nature of your vision. If you’re obsessed with the structure of the universe as Einstein was, then the worst that can happen may be a reputation for comic eccentricity – putting your coat on with the coat hanger still inside it, and so on. But for an artist whose imagination runs on darker themes, there’s a danger of turning away from life, and in the words of John Keats, falling ‘half in love with easeful death’.

Perfectionism

Robert Smith spoke for legions of creatives when he sang ‘It’s Never Enough’. However much we achieve, however pleased we are with our latest work, whatever praise or awards we win, we are never satisfied. And this is as it should be. Perfection may be elusive, but the vision of it spurs us on to greater efforts. It stops us resting on our laurels and settling for mediocrity. The same goes for the example of the great masters in any creative field. I may be pleased with a poem I write, especially if it’s accepted for publication. But I only have to open a volume of Shakespeare or Dante or Eliot to be reminded of how much I have to learn.

But like dedication, perfectionism has a dark side. Martha Graham’s ‘divine dissatisfaction’ degenerates into pedantic nitpicking and grumpiness. Your inner critic berates you from morning to night, reminding you of your failures, your mistakes your shortcomings, castigating you for daring to think yourself worthy of creative achievement. As with obsession, you can have too much of a good thing – instead of raising your standards, self-criticism stops you in your tracks.

Hypersensitivity

Why are creative people so sensitive to criticism of their work? Because our work is not just something we do , it’s an expression of who we are . As Gustave Flaubert put it:

A book is essentially organic, part of ourselves. We tear a length of gut from our bellies and serve it up.

So when the critics get their knives out, it feels like a direct personal attack. When nobody comes to the show it feels as if your innermost soul has been rejected. And again, this is as it should be – up to a point. If you didn’t care enough to put your heart and soul into your work, there would be no reason for anyone else to care about it. But if you really want to improve, you have to learn to let go of the work, to stand back and appraise it coldly, to see whether it measures up to the standards you aspire to. And you have to be able to listen to others’ feedback and see whether you can learn from it. Otherwise you set yourself up for a world of pain each time you present your work to an audience.

Control Freakery

You can probably see where the control freak comes in. If you’re obsessed by your work, driven to achieve perfection and regard any flaws in the work as stains on your inner soul, is it not the most natural thing in the world to want to control every aspect of the process? How could you trust anyone else to do it as well as you? As the old saying goes, if you want a job done properly you have to do it yourself. All the jobs.

And of course you can guess how it ends. The control freak can only spin so many plates before he misses one and it smashes – then another and another. If he doesn’t get help it won’t be long before he finds himself standing in the wreckage of his shattered dream.

The Weight of Expectation

Success may breed success – but it also breeds expectations, in other people as well as yourself. I’ve written before about ‘difficult second album syndrome’ – the quotation from Control above is a classic example of this. When recording Unknown Pleasures , Joy Division were free to concentrate on their music. But by the time they made Closer they had a passionate following and increasing pressure to deliver on their touring and recording commitments. One of the most telling scenes in the film is of a gig shortly after Curtis has made a suicide attempt. He’s clearly in no mood to go on stage, but with an angry crowd yelling for the band, the manager Rob Gretton is torn between making sure the singer is okay and trying to prevent a riot:

You all right Ian? You ready to go on?

When he does get out on stage, it’s clear that the baying crowd have absolutely no concern for Curtis the person, only what he can deliver for them. It’s like a pack of dogs trying to get at a fox. When he fails to deliver, fleeing the stage, they tear the place apart.

====================

The individual symptoms of creative burnout are bad enough – but notice how they’re all linked together, mutually reinforcing. Perfectionism naturally leads to obsession. When the work falls short of expectations, the words of the inner critic are all the more painful because we are hypersensitive to criticism. Fear of criticism and desperate perfectionism are what drive the control freak to take on more and more responsibility. And the more responsibility you claim, the more promises you make, the more things you forget, the more mistakes you make. Which brings that weight of expectation crashing down with a vengeance.

There are no simple solutions to creative burnout, but rest assured these are issues we’ll return to on Lateral Action. The first and most important step is to be aware of the symptoms, and to take them as a cue to slow down, maybe even take a break altogether, and take care of yourself.

It’s also important to talk to people around you, and get help and support when you need it. Creative burnout can be a very lonely place – but it’s amazing what a difference it can make when you realise that others have been through similar experiences and learned valuable lessons from them.

Over to you

Have you experienced any of the symptoms of creative burnout?

How did you overcome them?

Who or what was most helpful to you?

How do you structure your work habits to safeguard against burnout?

About the Author : Mark McGuinness is a poet and creative coach .

About Mark McGuinness

Mark McGuinness is a an award-winning poet , a coach for creatives , and the host of The 21st Century Creative Podcast .

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Reader Interactions

October 20, 2008 at 7:25 am

I recognise the hypersensitivity and control freakery symptoms in some of the people we work with. Even people who don’t consider themselves ‘creative’ feel highly invested in their business, so much so it can be hard for them to take the next step and get out there and launch it.

It’s a struggle for them to ‘divorce’ criticism of their product or service from criticism of themselves

Great post, thanks very much! Jayne

October 20, 2008 at 9:52 am

Wow, this one really struck a personal chord. I think every creative person has gone through “the burnout factor” at least once or twice. Usually takes me a solid week or two away from the craft. Then something happens to make me fall in love with it all over again. 😉

Btw – you might want to do an article analyzing Axl Rose and his never-ending “Chinese Democracy” project. From what I’ve read, his 14+ years in the making album (finally due for release 23NOV08) is the ultimate exercise in hypersensitivity, perfectionism, and the unwillingness to settle for anything less than perfection. Some people speculate that he’s tried to create the “best rock album of all time.”

Here are some links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/arts/music/06leed.html

^^ NY Times, “The Most Expensive Album Never Made”

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1595991/20080930/guns_n_roses.jhtml

^^ MTV, “Chinese Democracy Was Never Meant to be Heard”

October 20, 2008 at 9:56 am

Letting go of perfectionism has been an on-going process for me. I try to do the best I can do each minute of the day and beyond that I have no control. I am learning how to lose control.

As for creativity burnout – I know when my “bucket” is empty. When thoughts aren’t swirling around in my head, when there’s nothing but a blank slate and coming up with ideas is painful, that is my burnout.

Because of that I have learned the importance of taking time off. The goal is to not wait until the bucket is empty but to be proactive about taking time off frequently before it happens.

The best thing about getting older is you figure these things out, finally!

October 20, 2008 at 10:24 am

I dropped a bowl yesterday…it smashed into many pieces…my son said, “Wow, Mom, that was one of our favorite bowls…”

Your words got me thinking…I am in the midst of an obsession, creative/meaning building. The words you used, so man spinning plates, one is bound to drop, has actually/literally happened.

I need to step back…take a broader look at this obsession that is running my days. Thanks, Susan

October 20, 2008 at 12:43 pm

This is a big focus for my work and my life — I help people with creative burnout because I have struggled with it so much. For me, creative burnout is often, but not always, a natural cycle gone awry. We usually need to rest between projects, ideas, bouts of thinking and creating yet we rarely do – or not at least, without beating ourselves up for being human and needing to rest.

Also what can create/ prolong creative burnout for me is: Not taking time to learn new things Getting caught in the hurry up cycle Not taking care of my creative self i.e. regular spiritual practice, creativity for the sake of being creative not productive

All of which have a time element to them!

And this is all exacerbated by the need to earn a living which i have as a creative person for 18+ years.

Which can feel like another time element as in fill the bank account already, baby needs new shoes.

Hmmm… time and creative burnout seem related, for me, at least.

Good post! Thanks for getting me thinking about another angle on one of my fav subjects.

Thanks for the great comments guys.

Jay — brilliant example, thanks for the references. I may use Axl Rose in another post (if Brian doesn’t beat me to it!) and will definitely credit you if so.

Lisa —

The goal is to not wait until the bucket is empty but to be proactive about taking time off frequently before it happens.

Absolutely, if easier said than done sometimes!

Susan — for some reason I tend to break classes rather than crockery, but I recognise the situation. 🙂

October 20, 2008 at 12:59 pm

For me, creative burnout is often, but not always, a natural cycle gone awry. We usually need to rest between projects, ideas, bouts of thinking and creating yet we rarely do – or not at least, without beating ourselves up for being human and needing to rest.

Yes, one of the tricky things about creativity is that sometimes working harder doesn’t work — we need to take time out, which doesn’t sit easily with our inner boss.

October 20, 2008 at 1:28 pm

Mark, I’ve been thinking about a “Chinese Democracy” post all morning. Unless CD actually does turn out to be the greatest rock record ever, Axl will have given us a perfect case study in the evils of perfectionism.

October 20, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Well let’s just hope it’s a turkey. 🙂

October 20, 2008 at 2:29 pm

Yeah, I’ve definitely had all these symptoms at one time or another, and learning to deal with them effectively took a long time.

There’s one more symptom that I think you missed, which is that when you reach the stage of creative burnout, there’s a fear that you may never get back to a state of healthy creative production, or maybe even *any* creative production… I’ll give a couple examples of that fear, and then show how overcoming the fear helped me to overcome all of the other symptoms as well.

My first first creative career was as a poet and writer. For about 15 years, that was my main gig. I had some moderate success critically if not financially. Every now and then, I’d reach a wall and stop writing. The words just seized up and I would begin to fear that they weren’t going to come back again. Ever. I’d start looking at the most recent piece I had written and wondering whether it was in fact the last piece I’d ever write. It’s difficult to describe just how terrifying this can be if your whole life is wrapped up in identifying with the work… It’s like being erased. It felt like a degenerative disease where I retained just enough awareness to watch as my consciousness melted away.

There were a number of specific things I could do (diving into the work of other writers I admired, revisiting my unfinished work and notes, or taking a sudden turn to new subject matter) to try to get the juices flowing again— I think most creative people have got some system that works for them sooner or later. But, most of the time when you’re burned out, the best you can do is stare into space… it isn’t going to get better until you’ve let some time go by and recovered your balance. Just like being sick. While you’re in that state of fear, nothing makes you feel any better until you manage to become conscious of it and see it as a cyclical event that *will* pass because it has come and gone before. Unfortunately, the only way to be aware of it as a cycle is to learn by going through it a couple times.

The same cycle has happened to me as a visual artist, as a blogger, as a coder, as a designer… basically in any creative endeavor I’ve taken seriously. When I switched to visual art from poetry, I was just as terrified the first time or two that I realized I hadn’t made any art for a while. And then I remembered having the same experience with writing and recognized the cycle for what it is. Having seen it before made me less afraid of it, and knowing that I had experienced it in more than one creative discipline helped me to realize that if I was finished with what I had to say in one medium, I could always try bringing the creative process to yet another medium.

How does this relate to the other symptoms above? Essentially, if you can make down time a part of your creative process and recognize it as a naturally occurring break, it will help you to keep the other obsessive behaviors in check. When your creative mind feels blocked, it’s probably time to take a rest, step back and reassess your work to date, look for new ideas or challenges, pay some attention to the relationships or obligations you may have ignored while in the white heat of working, etc. Try to see it it as a good thing, as a cycle, as a balance, as a safety measure. Hell, as a vacation even.

Trying to force it isn’t gonna do you any good. Put your stuff away and ignore it for a bit. Do other stuff. If you’re really wired for creative work you will eventually get bored and start some small project just to amuse yourself, and before you know, the project has grown huge, become something cool and inspiring, and generated ideas for yet more projects. There you go, you’re back!

February 15, 2011 at 1:09 am

…Good to read this following a tail spin of creative burn out which is still “scorching” my insides..

. I’m also a poet and after 15 years writing a series of poems – I linked them in a narrative, inspired by Dante after three years studying his text – Then in a burst of God knows what – I staged a theatre production of the odyssey with musicians and an actor …I don’t know where the energy came from but in the space of six months- I produced a book of the poems, produced and directed this vision . The response was overwhelming and I thought that was what was wrong with me…

I felt completely flattened and heading into a depression of sorts – bouts of grief depleted my energies and the next thing I knew – I felt nothing for my work …the passion that had defined my life for so long just disappeared …it was like a romance that suddenly hit a wall and felt over …

I didn’t recognise myself and It frightened me and yet something about it felt slightly familiar – I’d been here before but it just less pronounced and I’d forgotten what it was like …what it was like to feel “burn out”…

Reading this has been reassuring …I’m not forcing the next step however demanding it feels ( others want details of the next show ) . I cleaned windows yesterday and it was great !. I’m back to cooking which I love and doing very little besides …I’m not back but I’m not lost either …I’m finding my way …

June 3, 2011 at 12:33 pm

As many sites as I’ve created… I gotta tell you, the internet finally is helping me with something serious. It has been an absolute nightmare. I got burned out right in the middle of building an agency. I hate how this appears in the exact time that everyone is counting on me to pull off the creative. I am beyond terrified that it will never come back. I almost feel like my shoulders and back are tingling the same way my head used to when i was feeling every shade of color and impact of composition. Now… i take the photoshop colors from one extreme to another and nothing… .nothing singing in my head or shifting gears of emotion. It’s plain horrible. I can’t wait for it to come back… otherwise I’m gonna go manufacture pencils for a living. Is it just clogged? Is there a plunger? Is it possible to design one?

June 4, 2011 at 5:03 am

You might like to check out my series on creative blocks where I suggested solutions to all kinds of blocks my readers sent in. Maybe there’s something in there that can help you!

October 20, 2008 at 2:55 pm

oh John, thank you for that! I’m still very shaking and doubting as I come out of my own will I ever create and who am if I don’t phase. It’s actually stoking my newest project which is about fear! Who knew fear and I were going become such a good friends?

Where are you on the web? Love to follow you, know your work. Thanks for making my day warmer and less fearful.

October 20, 2008 at 7:35 pm

I think I relate most to the “weight of expectation.” I have some mental habits that I’ve noticed lately, which are not that helpful. It’s like a habit of overwhelm. Controlling the creativity, however, as in “safeguards I have in place” so that I don’t end up in burnout, is not that helpful either.

Creativity is so organic, so seeming chaotic, that organizing systems have always failed me. The best thing I’ve done so far is accept that I have a certain amount of chaos inherent in my creations, and be very aware when I do complete something I’m happy with. Remind myself that I do this. I forget. I’m a published author, and I even forget that.

Today, my birthday, I fly to London and on to Paris, a beautiful gift to renew and recalibrate. I look forward to more time with you and all the innovators here.

Isn’t it fantastic to be working and playing in the fields of online communication? The expansiveness is heady, and one more factor in creative chaos. Kudos to you all, Suzanna

October 20, 2008 at 10:37 pm

Consider this shared on Facebook and emailed. Thank you for this. I’ve been trying to articulate it forever but couldn’t find the words. I know, totally cheesy. But, thanks.

October 21, 2008 at 1:12 am

Oh do I love your blog!

Even when you point out all my nasty side – have you been watching me through that ‘Rear Window’ again??

I furtively agree to put my hand up to all of the dark side in me! LOL

In my old ‘professional singing days’ I was truly handicapped by these – most especially the perfectionism gene – it is a great way to sabotage oneself I found out!

These days I am into the writing and creating and have found a way to kick the saboteurs and come up singing for joy! The dark side has become my friend – it is such a great spawning ground for the other bits – wondrous creativity and the sheer joy of accomplishment.

Embrace your dark side folks – it holds lots of goodies!

October 21, 2008 at 2:54 am

Fantastic analogy and breakdown (no pun intended) and so very true. Perfection and obsession there is a fine line and often they both lead down the path of ruin.

I guess it really is important to stop and smell the roses.

October 21, 2008 at 7:49 am

Hey, luisishere from Twitter here…

You’ve written an excellent and thoughtful article, and I think a lot of people could benefit from reading this.

One thing (other than fear, which was already mentioned (and a big part of my creative burnout sessions) is environment. You touched up on it, but I think it requires more attention.

For the creative person who’s working in a place that does not nurture creativity is a big contribution to creative burn out. When there is a constant barrage of negativity, whether it’s towards you, your work, or between others on a daily basis, it can be emotionally draining. Then it plays with your self worth. Negative self-talk kicks in, and you’re stuck in a cycle between anger, fear, and apathy.

Some people have the strength to fight it. Others may not know how. Then obsession, perfectionism, expectations all play their part. The ‘fun’ factor was thrown out the window long ago.

Also, great Steven Pressfield quote. That book should be required reading for all art students and english majors.

Thank you for this article.

October 21, 2008 at 11:56 am

Had to read this post again, it’s that good.

The Ian Curtis example of going on stage reminded me of a similar rock and roll tale:

That’ll keep you going for the show, come on, it’s time to go.

It’s no wonder that comfortably numb becomes attractive when others force you to carry on when you’re done with it.

October 21, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Wow, phenomenal comments, thanks everyone.

John — you’re absolutely right. It’s so easy to panic when the inspiration dries up or doesn’t strike for a while. If we’d just relax and go with it, we’d probably discover it’s part of a larger cyclical pattern — but it takes experience and patience to find that out.

Jennifer, Melody — whether fear and darkness are going to be our constant companions on the journey, I guess we may as well make friends with them. 🙂

Suzanna — happy birthday!

Luis — Good to see you here. Yes, environment and especially the people around you have a huge influence, so we need to choose our colleagues wisely! I’ll be touching on that a little in tomorrow’s post.

October 21, 2008 at 6:27 pm

‘Creative burnout can be a very lonely place – but it’s amazing what a difference it can make when you realise that others have been through similar experiences and learned valuable lessons from them.’

This quote and the comments following are what sums up my experience having ventured into following blogs, facebook, writing blogs.

I wrote in my own blog about losing your creativity in an environment that doesn’t quite get you or what you’re about (in the small Caribbean islands, this is often the case) Luis, I hear you! and Mark, thanks for the encouraging words.

My (few) readers are probably getting a bit familiar with the blog name Lateral Action, but what’s said in this post is said so well – so frankly, and the shared experience lifts you up on fresh breezes. Gotta send my few here for a read again!

October 23, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Finola — that pretty well matches my experience of the blogging community, a wonderful source of support and inspiration. Some good stuff on your blog, keep up the good work!

October 31, 2008 at 1:53 am

I’m a media student and currently having assignment due next week. It made me frustrated because I was being expected (or most likely I expect myself) to come up with a creative writing. And reading this post made me realise that most of the points you were talking about is true, especially the “Weigh of Expectations”

Gonna kick out some of the weigh and take a deep breath to relax.

Wish me luck for my finals!

Thanks, Mark! This is such a great post that I should never forget.

Cheers, Patsy

November 5, 2008 at 4:27 pm

Wow! How timely. Just in the midst of my own little self-doubt party today and consumed with fear about finding another idea. I wondered if I had been granted a finite amount of creativity that I had run through too quickly. Then it started to flow again.

It is pretty tough when you feel out of control – that you are the slave and the idea is the master but that is half the fun I think.

Thanks for giving words to this in such an eloquent way. It helps to know that others wrestle with similar demons.

November 7, 2008 at 11:54 am

Patsy – hope I’m not too late to wish you good luck! Relax and focus on the work and you should be fine.

Geni – I think we all wrestle with the demons, it makes it easier once you realise it’s a normal part of the process…

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[…] good points that I can relate to: A few months ago I published an article on Lateral Action called Burnout: the Dark Side of Creativity, in which I looked at the elements of the creative process and the creative personality that make […]

[…] de la que no podra bajarse. Si dura demasiado en la cinta puede correr el riesgo de “quemarse” a si […]

[…] One is workaholism: exerting yourself so frantically on a project that you use yourself up and burn yourself out. The other is laziness: doing nothing and hoping you’ll magically feel motivated and inspired […]

[…] Or is it?One problem with approaching your work purely in terms of “getting more clients,” is that it means you will always have to get more clients. If you don’t work, you don’t have billable hours, so you don’t get paid. Time off will always feel like money down the drain. If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself on a treadmill, unable to get off. Spend too long on the treadmill and you’ll risk burning yourself out. […]

[…] One problem with approaching your work purely in terms of “getting more clients,” is that it means you will always have to get more clients. If you don’t work, you don’t have billable hours, so you don’t get paid. Time off will always feel like money down the drain. If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself on a treadmill, unable to get off. Spend too long on the treadmill and you’ll riskburning yourself out. […]

[…] stumbled upon an article, The Dark Side of Creativity: Burnout, when online recently and realized many things the article described were accurate to me, and […]

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Of all the writers I know, I have learned the most about how to be a productive creative person from Mark. His tips are always realistic, accessible, and sticky. It’s not just talk, this is productivity advice that will change your life. ~ Jocelyn K. Glei, author, host of the Hurry Slowly podcast, and Founding Editor, 99U

CHRYSALIS Feasibility Study Published in International Journal of Group Psychotherapy

We are very excited to announce our first empirical publication since beginning our CHRYSALIS formation program in spring 2023. Promising findings include significant reduction in burnout and vicarious traumatization, increases in well-being and meaning, and growth in strengths and virtues. This is the first-ever RCT of a community-based intervention specifically designed to pro-actively address helping professionals’ needs. Below is the abstract and citation, including a link to the article.

Captari, L. E., Choe, E. J. Y., Crabtree, S. A., Sandage, S. J., Gerstenblith, J. A., Stein, L. B., Hydinger, K. R., & Stavros, G. (2024). The Development and Feasibility of a Novel Group Intervention to Support Helping Professionals in Metabolizing Suffering and Engaging Strengths: The CHRYSALIS Program. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy , 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207284.2024.2329565 .

Abstract This feasibility study reports on the development and initial evaluation of a novel online intervention for helping professionals (HPs; i.e. mental health professionals, chaplains, clergy) designed to (a) address occupational hazards, such as burnout and vicarious traumatization, and (b) promote well-being and flourishing at work. In contrast with competency and self-care focused models, the CHRYSALIS (Catalyzing Helping Professionals’ Resilience, VitalitY, Spirituality, Authentic Living, and Inner Strength) intervention centers the self of the provider, explores cultural and spiritual contexts, and attends to systemic challenges. As part of a larger randomized controlled trial evaluating two program formats, the group format entails eight online sessions exploring strengths that can promote well-being, including processing, relational, vitalizing, orienting, and agentic capacities. To pilot test this framework and establish proof of concept, this study analyzed data from 41 HPs who had been randomly assigned to the group condition and completed surveys at four time points. Quantitative results indicated significant reductions in vicarious traumatization and burnout as well as increased well-being and meaning in work. Qualitative results suggest the intervention fostered relational support, cultivated new perspectives, and increased engagement with strengths, positively impacting participants’ work and navigation of caregiving systems. Feedback about cohesion and group dynamic challenges in an online format informed further program development. This study provides initial support for the feasibility and efficacy of the group format of the CHRYSALIS intervention as a creative means to address HPs’ risk for occupational hazards and promote holistic formation in a relational context.

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Research: More People Use Mental Health Benefits When They Hear That Colleagues Use Them Too

• Laura M. Giurge,
• Lauren C. Howe,
• Zsofia Belovai,
• Guusje Lindemann,
• Sharon O’Connor

A study of 2,400 Novartis employees around the world found that simply hearing about others’ struggles can normalize accessing support at work.

Novartis has trained more than 1,000 employees as Mental Health First Aiders to offer peer-to-peer support for their colleagues. While employees were eager for the training, uptake of the program remains low. To understand why, a team of researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial with 2,400 Novartis employees who worked in the UK, Ireland, India, and Malaysia. Employees were shown one of six framings that were designed to overcome two key barriers: privacy concerns and usage concerns. They found that employees who read a story about their colleague using the service were more likely to sign up to learn more about the program, and that emphasizing the anonymity of the program did not seem to have an impact. Their findings suggest that one way to encourage employees to make use of existing mental health resources is by creating a supportive culture that embraces sharing about mental health challenges at work.

“I almost scheduled an appointment about a dozen times. But no, in the end I never went. I just wasn’t sure if my problems were big enough to warrant help and I didn’t want to take up someone else’s time unnecessarily.”

• Laura M. Giurge is an assistant professor at the London School of Economics, and a faculty affiliate at London Business School. Her research focuses on time and boundaries in organizations, workplace well-being, and the future of work. She is also passionate about translating research to the broader public through interactive and creative keynote talks, workshops, and coaching. Follow her on LinkedIn  here .
• Lauren C. Howe is an assistant professor in management at the University of Zurich. As head of research at the Center for Leadership in the Future of Work , she focuses on how human aspects, such as mindsets, socioemotional skills, and leadership, play a role in the changing world of work.
• Zsofia Belovai is a behavioral science lead for the organizational performance research practice at MoreThanNow, focusing on exploring how employee welfare can drive KPIs.
• Guusje Lindemann is a senior behavioral scientist at MoreThanNow, in the social impact and organizational performance practices, working on making the workplace better for all.
• Sharon O’Connor is the global employee wellbeing lead at Novartis. She is a founding member of the Wellbeing Executives Council of The Conference Board, and a guest lecturer on the Workplace Wellness postgraduate certificate at Trinity College Dublin.

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Five Things You Should Know About Burnout In Cybersecurity But Probably Don’t

Jinan Budge , VP, Principal Analyst

Heidi Shey , Principal Analyst

Madelein van der Hout , Senior Analyst

Jonathan Roberts , Senior Analyst

David Levine , VP, Executive Partner

The cybersecurity industry continues to focus almost exclusively on technology at the expense of dealing with the heart of cyberdefenses: the people. Yet the stress of expectations, limited resources, and detriments to well-being continues to cause havoc with the mental and physical health, productivity, and retention of the cybersecurity workforce.

A few of us on the S&R team decided to tackle the topic of burnout head on. As we collaborated and wrote, as with all great pieces of research, we were challenged, we challenged one another, and we accepted wisdom on this topic. Our research ( Forrester clients can read here ) defines and deconstructs burnout in cybersecurity and offers detailed guidance on how you can address it. In this blog, we share our biggest learnings, and surprises, with you.

• Burnout in cybersecurity is NOT only a human issue —  it’s a cyber risk. As with all difficult people-related matters, it is easy to relegate burnout as a social or mental health issue. Make no mistake, it certainly is that — we spoke to folks who came to the realization that they haven’t seen their kids for eight years, those who could no longer get up in the morning, and others whose bodies gave way to the physical symptoms of burnout. But, as well, burnout is causing critical talent to exit the industry and preventing others from entering — this ultimately impacts our ability to manage cybersecurity for organizations.
• Security leaders hold themselves to an unrealistic set of standards, at a cost. The purpose-driven nature of security pros adds a significant burden on people to “put up,” often for extended periods of time. The CISOs we interviewed spoke of their desire to support their teams, insisting that they take their vacation days and fighting for resources for them. When we asked whether they extended this kindness to themselves, we were often met with deafening silence. Their own needs were not always a priority — they talked to us about “servant leadership,” protecting their troops, giving everything to others, and sacrificing themselves as leaders. While the sentiment is noble, not only is this leading to their own burnout, but their teams may receive mixed messages when they model different behaviors from the ones they advise.
• We don’t spend enough time on understanding the inputs to burnout. Stand-alone, Band-Aid solutions such as self-care, meditation, and yoga are often offered to address burnout. As a yogi of 25 years, I can’t be more thrilled that we’ve normalized the conversation around mental health and self-care. As someone who has just completed the research, however, this terrifies me. Treating the symptoms without addressing the causes only masks the problem. We need to better understand this nuanced epidemic before we jump into solution mode. Burnout can usually be attributed to a chronic imbalance between the following:
• Expectations: imposed by the organization (e.g., job tasks, work hours, dress codes) or self (individual intrinsic motivations, feelings of loyalty to a team, career ambitions)
• Resources: organizational (e.g., pay, autonomy, job fit, tools, technology), social (team members, collaboration processes, recognition), or personal (personal energy, well-being, health, creativity, hours in the day)
• Perceptions: How one feels about that relationship will often act as a modifier. A positive outlook on the direction of the organization or team and its culture means many will willingly work through imbalances. A negative perception of the organization or culture can exacerbate the imbalance even further.
• Women, and other groups in cybersecurity, face systemic issues that cause burnout. A study by Cybermindz showed that female engineers and consultants scored higher on the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout than their male counterparts. This is unsurprising, given how much work women have to undertake to fit in. Incident responders, security analysts, and CISOs also face highly unique challenges, putting them at great risk of burnout.
• A deeply concerning percentage of cybersecurity workers are close to the edge. Our research into the causes and effects of employee burnout produced a surprise: Burnout isn’t always the opposite of engagement. It is not a binary state of yes or no. In fact, examining the relationship between engagement and burnout reveals four burnout segments, each with a different potential solution (see the figure below). The most concerning finding is that the 59% who are Tired Rockstars — if we are not careful — will slip to the Red Zone.

Take The Burnout In Cybersecurity Survey

Forrester clients can take Forrester’s Burnout In Cybersecurity Survey to see what your profile is and what you can do about it. Reach out (see below) to learn how.

Let’s Connect

Forrester security and risk clients who have questions about burnout in cybersecurity, and how to best address this issue, can reach out to  me or any one of my coauthors — Heidi Shey , Jess Burn , Jonathan Roberts , David Levine , Allie Mellen , or Madelein van der Hout — via inquiry or guidance session .

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Ama Essuman: On burnout, hard work, resilience, and perseverance

This piece was written in the spring of 2024 by GRAD 5144 (Communicating Science) student Ama Essuman as part of an assignment to write a story about her research.

This is a story about my master’s level project. I call it my story of resilience and perseverance.

    It all started after my first year of M.Phil. education. In my institution, the first year was dedicated solely to academic work, while the second was for a research project in a lab. I had to submit a thesis at the end of the second year and defend it to qualify for completion and graduation.

    I was in a renowned scientific institution in West Africa. When I say “renowned scientific institution,” I mean “an institution with a very competitive spirit,” one in which success was judged by your ability to complete a somewhat complicated project within the required time frame — and a place where excuses for a poor or stalled project would not cut it. Ultimately, a publication in a highly respected journal meant you were excellent.

    Subconsciously, everyone — including me — was under pressure to prove ourselves worthy to be a part of the institution.

    In my second year, I began my ambitious project. This project was based on my interest in infectious diseases and how they could be cured. I was pursuing a project in drug discovery, searching for a hit compound (a compound with a desired activity during screening, which has the potential for further development) for the infectious parasitic disease Leishmaniasis. My potential drugs were all synthesized plant-based compounds. I had it all planned out perfectly, from a well-established hypothesis to the main objectives I planned to accomplish within one year of research.

    The main hurdle was finding an active compound that would pass Objective 1 of the research. Objectives 2 and 3 were centered on finding out how this active compound works. I eagerly began this research by screening the six main target compounds. Based on the preliminary data supporting my hypothesis, I was 99 percent certain that at least one of them was going to pass the first objective.

    I was right: five of the six compounds had activities outside the range we were hoping to classify as active, but one — my savior compound, let us call it Compound 3 or C3 — was right where I needed it to be. This was going to be the key to progress with my project.

    Then came the turning point that tested my resilience and perseverance. I found out, soon after I had discovered activity from C3 against the parasite, that C3 was one of the compounds not available in abundance for further screening. This felt like a stab to the chest. I was running straight into the ditch of a stalled or possibly failed project.

    I had an urgent meeting with my supervisor, and we agreed that I needed to screen more compounds that were abundantly available in the lab. The isolation of C3 from its plant source or a synthetic production of it was going to take months, which I didn’t have. Every moment counted if I were to finish this research on time.

    The other compounds that were available in the lab supported my hypothesis, but only weakly. Thus, the possibility of getting a good hit was highly uncertain, but I zoomed in anyway, hopeful.

    I had no idea what lay in wait for me.

    Let me throw some light on what Objective 1 looked like, just in case you’re thinking it’s too easy to complete. Objective 1 had three main experiments, the first a prerequisite for the second and the second a prerequisite for the third. Any compound that was to move further needed to pass all three stages. Failure at any level meant that the compound could not continue the journey.

    The first experiment involved screening the compound against the parasite to determine the effective concentration (lowest concentration) of the compound needed to kill the parasite. The second involved screening the compound against human cells to determine the lowest concentration of the compound that would kill human cells. An ideal compound that passes the first two experiments is one that kills the parasite at a very low concentration and either does not kill the human cells or kills human cells only at a very high concentration.

    I knew I should be able to complete these first two experiments within two weeks of intensive work, screening 10 compounds or even 15 if I pushed myself. The third experiment was a confirmation of the first. If the compound was truly killing the parasite, I should be able to show under the microscope that in the presence of the compound, the parasite dies.

    This experiment involved treating a specified number of parasites with four different concentrations of the compound, increasing concentrations of the lowest concentration identified in Experiment 1, and then counting the number of surviving parasites under the microscope for the next five days. This is followed by a recovery, where the compound is removed and the parasites are counted for the next three days. This would show whether the parasites were being completely killed or just disabled.

    Fun fact: These parasites are motile, so you need to be fast and very precise. The ideal compound here that passes is one that completely kills the parasites within five days without recovery in the subsequent three days. The usual me should be able to count 48 samples with ease in a day. From experience, I knew that if a compound is not as strong in Experiment 1, it will most definitely fail Experiment 3.

    After close to two months of continuous work, stretching myself without breaks, I ended up screening 54 compounds through Experiments 1 and 2 because I needed to get as many active compounds as possible, with the hope that at least one would pass Experiment 3. This was a tedious process, but I had six compounds that passed Experiments 1 and 2. They were ready to move to Experiment 3.

    The worst was still to come. I began work on Experiment 3 with two compounds at a time, which meant counting about 96 samples in a day. I would start at 7 a.m. and finish at almost 8 p.m., most days without breaks. The complete experiment lasted for eight days, and then I would immediately hop on to the next set of compounds.

    Imagine having to count 96 samples of motile cells every day, only to find out on Day 3 or 4 that the cells have been contaminated by fungi. This contamination means your results will be unreliable and that you have to discard all of the hard work and start over again.

    This was my story for the next close to three months. I was exhausted. There were times when I felt like the whole world would collapse in on me and it would all end. But I could not stop. I had to keep going. I needed to succeed for my mental health. I am usually that person who is afraid of giving up. When I set my mind to achieve a target, no matter how long it takes, no matter how often I come across setbacks, I have to meet it. It gives me joy. It gives me fulfilment knowing that I am able to meet my goals.

    Most importantly, I felt that my supervisor was counting on me to succeed and that there was no room for disappointments. My inability to succeed would mean feeling that I did not belong in my institution, where everyone worked hard and the proof of that hard work was that you produced results. I was possibly going to break down, but my mind would not allow it.

    When I thought all hope was lost because I was finally completing Experiment 3 for my last set of compounds without good results from the previous ones, the tides finally changed in my favor. While searching for a reagent I needed, I came across a sealed box that contained compounds I had not yet worked on. As I sorted through these compounds, I came across C3, my savior compound that had already passed Objective 1. It was sitting right there, stored away and forgotten about, enough quantity to move forward and possibly complete my project.

    All the emotions that had refused to come to me came running with the speed of light through tears (and I hadn’t called for them). For the next five minutes, I sat shedding silent tears of relief. I knew my days of exhaustion were over and that I could finally move forward with my project.

    That was when I realized that I was mentally tired and really needed to take a break from my research.

    After learning about the awful experience of my supervisor in graduate school, I picked up a few principles that I am working on applying in all my future research. I learned that it is okay for things to go south in research; you learn from such setbacks. Based on the research question, everyone will face peculiar challenges. Our timelines may differ, but that should not be an assessment of hard work. Most importantly, it is okay to take breaks and time-offs. It helps you think clearly and re-strategize, and it prevents burnout or loss of interest.

    Fast forward: I was among five students from my class to graduate. The remaining students, I learned, were facing challenges with their research, so they were scheduled to complete and graduate later on, which is okay. What matters is putting in the effort and following where the research leads you.