Understanding Burnout: WHO's Classification and How to Address It (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Dr. Karen Urilla, what do you have for us?

Speaker 2: Yes, so speaking of stress, something we've been talking about around the office, the World Health Organization's decision to classify burnout as a syndrome. The UN agency says this results from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. So I think we can all relate. I know I certainly felt when I was an intern that that was a time of almost feeling burned out. Right. And it's difficult. It's a catchy word that we throw around. But when you look at the literature, actually the first publications of burnout were in the 1970s. And they made a classification system for it in the 1980s. But it's taken 40 years for us to really elevate the description. And the World Health Organization is saying a couple of things. First of all, this is not a medical condition. It's an occupational phenomenon.

Speaker 1: Because I was cynical and I said, she's like, come on.

Speaker 2: Exactly. You're just sick of work. Not a medical condition. It can lead to other issues. They're also saying you have to rule out things like anxiety disorder or mood disorders or stress-related disorders before you really diagnose it. And then there are really three criteria. If you're feeling exhausted, really a depletion in your energy, that's the first thing. The second thing is that you have mental disconnectedness or detachment from your job. You're very negative or cynical about your job. And then the third thing is that you just feel you're not professionally efficacious. And with those three things, that's really the definition or diagnosis.

Speaker 1: Clear difference between I'm just having a bad week or I'm just burned out on this job. Yeah, and you mentioned when you were an intern, it seems like certain jobs might lean or I guess be, you might have a worse chance of actually suffering burnout in them.

Speaker 2: Right, and so they do say this can apply to any career, but there are certain professions, so people-oriented professions, things like teachers, social workers, medical professionals, police, paramedics, where there's really this intense time of emotional and personal contact, high, high demands, and a lack of resources in a lot of instances. But researchers in this field have identified essentially six things that if there's a mismatch between you and your job in one of these six areas, then that could lead to burnout. And those things are workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. So that's something to keep in mind.

Speaker 1: Good doctor, what do you prescribe to fix burnout? A chill pill?

Speaker 2: Right, well, the other interesting thing is that we tend to put this on the individual a lot and say, well, you just must be weak or this is a problem with you. And they're saying that while obviously it's an interaction between the individual and the job, it's not so much the individual as it is a systemic and job problem. So the individual can do things like vacation, social support, work-life balance, fitness, but the managers and the jobs really need to focus on flexibility, not emailing and texting after hours, building a team spirit of collaboration. Good luck with that. You hear that? I know, is anybody listening? It's all room, do you hear that? We're all smirking.

Speaker 1: Yeah, we are. Dr. Tara Narula, thank you very much. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Yes. Even more now.