Bianchi, Renzo

2015-6, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam, Laurent, Eric

Purpose Whether burnout and depression represent distinct pathologies is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine whether burnout and depressive symptoms manifest themselves separately from each other or are so closely intertwined as to reflect the same phenomenon. Methods A two-wave longitudinal study involving 627 French schoolteachers (73 % female) was conducted. Burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory and depression with the 9-item depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire. Results Burnout and depressive symptoms clustered both at baseline and follow-up. Cluster membership at time 1 (T1) predicted cases of burnout and depression at time 2 (T2), controlling for gender, age, length of employment, lifetime history of depression, and antidepressant intake. Changes in burnout and depressive symptoms from T1 to T2 were found to overlap. Teachers with increasing burnout experienced increases in depression and teachers with decreasing burnout experienced decreases in depression. In addition, emotional exhaustion, the core of burnout, was more strongly associated with depression than with depersonalization, the second dimension of burnout, underlining an inconsistency in the conceptualization of the burnout syndrome. Conclusions Our results are consistent with recent findings showing qualitative and quantitative symptom overlap of burnout with depression. The close interconnection of burnout and depression questions the relevance of a nosological distinction between the two entities. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, the two main dimensions of burnout, may be better conceptualized as depressive responses to adverse occupational environments than as components of a separate entity.

2015-5-6, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam, Bianchi, Renzo

2015-4-13, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam

2015-3-28, Bianchi, Renzo, Boffy, Claire, Laurent, Eric

2015-6, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam, Laurent, Eric

The "burnout syndrome" has been defined as a combination of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment caused by chronic occupational stress. Although there has been increasing medical interest in burnout over the last decades, it is argued in this paper that the syndrome cannot be elevated to the status of diagnostic category, based on (1) an analysis of the genesis of the burnout construct, (2) a review of the latest literature on burnout-depression overlap, (3) a questioning of the three-dimensional structure of the burnout syndrome, and (4) a critical examination of the notion that burnout is singularized by its job-related character. It turns out that the burnout construct is built on a fragile foundation, both from a clinical and a theoretical standpoint. The current state of science suggests that burnout is a form of depression rather than a differentiated type of pathology. The inclusion of burnout in future disorder classifications is therefore unwarranted. The focus of public health policies dedicated to the management of "burnout" should not be narrowed to the three definitional components of the syndrome but consider its depressive core.

2015-5-6, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam

2015-4, Bianchi, Renzo, Laurent, Eric

No abstract available

2015-5-6, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam

2015-5, Sethi, Nitin Kumar, Bianchi, Renzo, Sigsbee, Bruce, Bernat, James Lawrence

No abstract available

2015-3-28, Bianchi, Renzo, Schonfeld, Irvin Sam, Laurent, Eric