Bianchi, Renzo

2014-8-26, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam, Truchot, Didier, Laurent, Eric

2013-6, Bianchi, Renzo, Boffy, Claire, Hingray, Coraline, Truchot, Didier, Laurent, Eric

The link between burnout and depression remains unclear. In this study, we compared depressive symptoms in 46 burned-out workers, 46 outpatients experiencing a major depressive episode, and 453 burnout-free workers to test the distinctiveness of burnout as a clinical entity. Participants with burnout and major depressive episode reported similar, severe levels of overall depressive symptoms. The between-syndrome overlap was further verified for eight of the nine major depressive episode diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Our findings do not support the view hypothesizing that burnout and depression are separate entities and question the nosological added value of the burnout construct.

2014-8, Bianchi, Renzo, Truchot, Didier, Laurent, Eric, Brisson, Romain, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam

Within the field-dominating, multidimensional theory of burnout, burnout is viewed as a work-specific condition. As a consequence, the burnout syndrome cannot be investigated outside of the occupational domain. In the present paper, this restrictive view of burnout's scope is criticized and a rationale to decide between a work-specific and a generic approach to burnout is presented. First, the idea that a multidimensional conception of burnout implies a work-restricted scope is deconstructed. Second, it is shown that the burnout phenomenon cannot be confined to work because chronic, unresolvable stress - the putative cause of burnout - is not limited to work. In support of an integrative view of health, it is concluded that the field-dominating, multidimensional theory of burnout should abandon as groundless the idea that burnout is a specifically job-related phenomenon and define burnout as a multi-domain syndrome. The shift from a work-specific to a generic approach would allow both finer analysis and wider synthesis in research on chronic stress and burnout.

2012-12-17, Bianchi, Renzo, Boffy, Claire, Hingray, Coraline, Truchot, Didier, Laurent, Eric

2013-7-16, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam, Truchot, Didier, Laurent, Eric