Jul 05, 2025 09:00:00

It is clear that most of the causes of 'burnout' are not work

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Burnout syndrome ' refers to a state in which a person is mentally exhausted due to chronic stress and a sense of futility, and is overcome by a sense of collapse and fatigue, losing motivation for various things. In general, burnout syndrome is often thought to be caused by work, such as excessive work or high-pressure work, but in fact, most of the causes of burnout syndrome are not work-related.

Most people do not attribute their burnout symptoms to work - ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002239992400374X

Burnout is often caused by factors entirely unrelated to work
https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2025/06/burnout-is-often-caused-by-factors-entirely-unrelated-to-work/

Burnout Might Not Actually Be a Work Problem After All, Study Shows : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/burnout-might-not-actually-be-a-work-problem-after-all-study-shows

When we hear the term burnout, many people may imagine long working hours, chronic work-related pressure, interpersonal stress, etc. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon, resulting from chronic workplace stress that is not properly managed.

A research team from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology investigated the causes of burnout and the degree of fatigue in 813 Norwegian workers who had symptoms of burnout. 70.5% of the subjects were women, 38.5% were aged 18-34, 18% were aged 35-49, and 42.7% were aged 50 or older.

Interestingly, the survey revealed that only 27.7% of workers believe that their burnout is caused by their job, while more than 70% believe that their burnout is caused by something other than their job.

Several other studies have shown similar findings, including one American survey in which 64% of participants said that work was not the cause of their burnout, and a large meta-analysis of 48 studies

found that the link between work and burnout is much weaker than previously thought.

Lead author of the paper, Associate Professor Renzo Bianchi of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, points out that a variety of factors can lead to chronic everyday stress, including sleep disorders, physical illnesses, and family problems involving children or partners.

'For people with anxious personalities, the worries and stress that can drain a lot of their energy are not necessarily work-related,' Bianchi said. 'I think it's important to do more research into how personality influences this.'

Herbert Freudenberger , an American psychologist who coined the term 'burnout' in the 1970s, defined it as a condition caused by persistent occupational stress experienced by service industry workers, but according to Bianchi, even back then the relationship between burnout and work had not been fully established.

Bianchi and her team suggest that we may need to rethink how we define burnout: if so much of it is unrelated to work, then looking to the work environment to understand and prevent the condition may not be enough.

Of course, for some people, work is the cause of burnout. 'My solution,' Bianchi said, is to love your work. 'Not everyone is lucky enough to love their job and be able to withstand the stresses of the workplace, but it's important to find a job that's rewarding and put in the effort necessary to be successful.'