Burnout is often caused by factors entirely unrelated to work

Everything feels like a chore. Your drive has gone. Headaches, nausea and dizziness come and go. Some people sleep a lot, others struggle to sleep. The feeling of dragging yourself through the day is overwhelming.

People who have experienced it know exactly what burnout feels like. They also know that it can be hard to pinpoint exactly how they ended up there.

Until now, burnout has been considered a work-related phenomenon.

The World Health Organization defines burnout as a result of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.

This definition is now being challenged by several studies.

Weak link between work and burnout

One of these studies is from NTNU. Psychologist and associate professor Renzo Bianchi has recently published a study in which only a minority of the participants identified work as the cause of their burnout. A total of 813 Norwegian employees with burnout were asked to what extent they believed their job was the cause.

Burnout can be caused by stressful issues within the family, with children or a partner. Some may have sleep problems, be physically ill, or face other physical challenges. Illustrative photo: Colourbox SHOW MORE

More than 70 per cent stated it was not related to their job.

Several other studies show the same results:

• 64 per cent of the participants in a study from the United States stated that their job was not the main cause of burnout.
• A study from Switzerland shows similar results.
• A large analysis from 2020, which included 48 studies, also revealed that the connection between work and burnout is much weaker than previously thought.

The term ‘burnout’ was coined in the 1970s by American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger. He used it to describe the consequences of severe stress and high ideals experienced by people in caregiving professions. The term has since been used to describe people in all professions.

“Even in the 1970s, the connection between burnout and work was poorly grounded in research, yet this perception has persisted as an accepted truth for many years,” said Bianchi.

He has published over a hundred articles on burnout and requires little time to reflect on the causes of burnout.

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Personality appears to affect burnout

“People who experience burnout describe stress in their daily lives which leads to a form of depression. You could call it depressive stress in life,” said Bianchi.

He points out that stressful family problems can arise involving children or a partner. Some people may experience sleep problems, be physically ill or have other physical challenges, and not everyone responds to stress in the same way.

“For people with a more anxious personality, worries and stress can drain a lot of energy, without it necessarily being solely about their job. I think it is important to conduct more research on this, and especially on what impact personality has. Constantly worrying about what could go wrong is exhausting,” Bianchi said.

Good colleagues and self-determination help

For some people, however, their job is actually the cause. The NTNU study shows that the higher a person scores on burnout, the more likely it is that their work is the cause.

The World Health Organization has a list of factors that can lead to reduced mental health in the workplace:

• under-use of skills or being under-skilled for work
• excessive workloads or work pace, understaffing
• long, unsocial or inflexible hours
• lack of control over job design or workload
• unsafe or poor physical working conditions
• organizational culture that enables negative behaviours
• limited support from colleagues or authoritarian supervision
• violence, harassment or bullying
• discrimination and exclusion
• unclear job role
• under- or over-promotion
• job insecurity, inadequate pay, or poor investment in career development
• conflicting home/work demands

The study from NTNU and other research show that people who experience support from their colleagues, job security and self-determination are less prone to burnout.

“These are three factors that have a preventative effect. My experience is that working life has improved for many people, with greater focus on mental health,” said Bianchi.

His personal solution to burnout, however, is not on this list.

Love your job

“My solution is that I love my job. I have had periods in my life where I worked 80 hours a week, but it was something I was happy to do. I have worked hard to become an associate professor, and I was lucky enough to achieve my goal. Not everyone is as fortunate to love their job, and as a result, have the capacity tolerate more stress at work. But it is important to find a meaningful job and then put in the work needed to succeed,” Bianchi said.

He believes that fair treatment in the workplace is something that should receive more attention in the discussion about what fosters good mental health at work.

“Lack of fairness is actually a major stressor for many people. It is important that it is the most competent person who actually gets promoted or employed. It is fundamental that people aren’t given a higher salary just because they are a friend of the boss or some in-house politics,” concluded Bianchi.

References:
Renzo Bianchi, Elin Lindsäter, Tonje Erevik Vollan, Rune Tesaker, Håkon Homme Mathisen, Sigrid Hovdal Øyangen et al. (2024). Most people do not attribute their burnout symptoms to work. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2024Dec:187:111962.doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111962. Epub 2024 Oct 21.

Guthier, C., Dormann, C., & Voelkle, M. C. (2020). Reciprocal effects between job stressors and burnout: A continuous time meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 146(12), 1146–1173.https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000304

Bianchi R, Brisson R. Burnout and depression: Causal attributions and construct overlap. Journal of Health Psychology. 2017;24(11):1574-1580. doi:10.1177/1359105317740415