By 1982, more than a thousand articles on "burnout" - "emotional combustion" - had been published in English literature. The studies presented were mainly descriptive and episodic. Initially, the number of professionals classified as "emotionally burned" was insignificant - they were employees of medical institutions and various charitable organizations. R. Schwab expands the professional risk group: first of all, teachers, police officers, lawyers, prison staff, politicians, managers at all levels.
As K.Maslach writes, one of the leading specialists in "emotional combustion" research, "the activities of these professionals are different, but they are all united by close contact with people who, from the emotional point of view, are often very difficult to maintain for a long time".
The authors used different variants of translation of the English term "burnout" in their Russian works: "emotional burning" (T.S. Yatsenko, 1989; T.V. Formanyuk, 1994), "emotional burnout" (V.V. Boyko, 1996) and "emotional burnout" (V.D. Vid, E.I. Lozinskaya, 1998). The terms "mental burnout" (N.E. Vodopianova, 2000) and "professional burnout" are also used (T.I. Roginskaya, 2002).
In psychology, the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" is described as a specific type of professional chronic state of persons working with people.
By now, there is a common point of view on the essence of mental burnout and its structure. According to modern data, "mental burnout" is understood as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, manifested in the professions of the social sphere
Initially, the term "emotional burnout" was defined as a state of exhaustion, exhaustion with a sense of uselessness. Then the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" was detailed, resulting in his syndrome - burnout syndrome (SES) (K. Maslach, 1981; B. Pelman, E. Hartman, 1982). Thus, K. Maslach singled out in him a feeling of emotional exhaustion, exhaustion (a person cannot be given to work as before); dehumanization, depersonalization (a tendency to develop a negative attitude to clients); negative self-education in professional terms - lack of a sense of professional skill. B. Pelman and E. Hartmann, after summarizing many definitions of burnout, identified three main components of the syndrome: emotional and/or physical exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced work productivity.
Emotional burnout syndrome is a process of gradual loss of emotional and physical energy, manifested in the symptoms of emotional, mental exhaustion, physical fatigue, personal detachment, and reduced job satisfaction.
Emotional exhaustion manifests itself in feelings of emotional overstrain and feelings of devastation and exhaustion of emotional resources. A person feels that he cannot give himself to work with the same enthusiasm, desire as before.
Depersonalization is associated with the emergence of indifferent or even negative attitudes towards people served by the job. Contacts with them become formal, impersonal, and negative attitudes can initially be hidden and manifest themselves in an internally restrained irritation that eventually breaks out and leads to conflict.
Reduced working productivity (or reduction of personal achievements) is manifested in a decrease in self-esteem of their competence (in a negative perception of themselves as a professional), dissatisfaction with themselves, a negative attitude to themselves as a person.
T.V. Formanyuk singles out the following manifestations as a symptom complex of emotional burnout: a feeling of emotional exhaustion, exhaustion; dehumanization, depersonalization, tendency to develop a negative attitude to the subject of activity, negative self-perception in a professional sense.
According to T.V. Formanyuk, the key signs of emotional combustion are:
- Achieving the individual limit of the emotional "I" to withstand exhaustion, self-preserving;
- internal psychological experience, including feelings, attitudes, motives, expectations;
- Negative individual experiences that concentrate problems, distress, discomfort, dysfunction and their negative consequences.
Emotional burnout means devastation before a person's mental resources are naturally replenished, or the emotional experiences that are an integral part of life are lost or deformed.
Burnout is "infectious" and can spread quickly among staff. Those who are subject to burnout become cynics, negativists, and pessimists; by interacting with others who are under the same stress, they can quickly turn an entire group into a meeting of "burnout".