The ICD-11 of the World Health Organization (WHO) describes occupational burnout as a work-related phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.

[14] In 1869, New York neurologist George Beard used the term "neurasthenia" to describe a very broad condition caused by the exhaustion of the nervous system, which he argued was to be found in "civilized, intellectual communities.

[30] In 1961, British author Graham Greene published the novel A Burnt-Out Case, the story of an architect who became disenchanted with the fame his achievements garnered for him and volunteered to work at leper colony in the Congo.

Another condition added to this edition was the similar asthenic personality, which was "characterized by easy fatigability, low energy level, lack of enthusiasm, marked incapacity for enjoyment, and oversensitivity to physical and emotional stress."

In 1969, American prison official Harold B Bradley used the term burnout in a criminology paper to describe the fatigued staff at a centre for treating young adult offenders.

[40] Pines collaborated with Maslach[41][42] in writing essentially data-free papers[43] about burnout in individuals who worked in day care centers and mental health facilities.

[47] In 1998, Swedish psychiatrists Marie Åsberg and Åke Nygren[48] investigated a surge of depression-related health insurance claims in their country.

"[57] As of 2017, nine European countries (Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden) legally recognized the burnout syndrome as an occupational disorder, for example, by awarding workers' compensation payments to affected people.

[75] A reform of Dutch health insurance programs resulted in adjustment disorder treatment being removed from the compulsory basic package in 2012.

Further detail about the varied ways clinicians and others used the then-current ICD and DSM classifications with burnout was published by Dutch psychologist Arno Van Dam in 2021.

It defines the condition as "An excessive reaction to stress caused by one's environment that may be characterized by feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion, coupled with a sense of frustration and failure.

"[88] SNOMED CT includes the term "burnout" as a synonym for its defined condition of "Physical AND emotional exhaustion state," which is a subtype of anxiety disorder.

In 2010, researchers from Mayo Clinic used portions of the MBI, along with other comprehensive assessments, to develop the Well-Being Index, a nine-item self-assessment tool designed to measure burnout and other dimensions of distress in healthcare workers specifically.

In the ICD-11, in the description for code QF27 "Difficulty or need for assistance at home and no other household member able to render care" the term "caregiver burnout" is given as a synonym.

[121] Kakiashvili et al.[122] argued that although burnout and depression have overlapping symptoms, endocrine evidence suggests that the disorders' biological bases are different.

[131] In a systematic literature review in 2014, the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services (SBU) found that a number of work environment factors could affect the risk of developing exhaustion disorder or depressive symptoms: In line with the work of Maslach and Jackson[1][46] The World Health Organisation has defined burnout as consisting of: Lindsäter et al. (2023)[141] found a wide range of symptoms in individuals who were formally diagnosed with exhaustion disorder.

[143] Emotional symptoms associated with occupational burnout include a lack of interest in work, reduced performance, feelings of helplessness, and trouble sleeping.

[144] The Swedish health department has defined the effects of exhaustion disorder as being: Research on dentists[115] and physicians[99] suggests that burnout is a depressive syndrome.

[147] Other effects of burnout can manifest as lower energy and productivity levels, with workers observed to be consistently late for work and feeling a sense of dread upon arriving.

[149] Research suggests that burnout can manifest differently between genders, with higher levels of depersonalisation among men and increased emotional exhaustion among women.

[135] She and Leiter argued that burnout can occur in connection to six areas of work life: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values.

[95] Hätinen et al.[154] suggested that "improving job-person fit by focusing attention on the relationship between the person and the job situation, rather than either of these in isolation, seems to be the most promising way of dealing with burnout."

[95] Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives are considered a resource which counteracts the stress effects of job demands, lowering employee burnout by boosting happiness, resilience and capitalizing altruism.

[163] Additional prevention methods include: starting the day with a relaxing ritual; yoga; adopting healthy eating, exercising, and sleeping habits; setting boundaries; taking breaks from technology; nourishing one's creative side, and learning how to manage stress.

[164][165][166] Farber (2000),[167] writing about educators, suggested that strategies such as setting achievable goals, focusing on the value of the work, and finding better ways of doing the job can help teachers experiencing occupational stress.

[169] One study[148] suggests that social-cognitive processes such as commitment to work, self-efficacy, learned resourcefulness, and hope may insulate individuals from experiencing occupational burnout.

The researchers also found that people who were primarily experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or insomnia, CBT reduced total time away from work.

"[174] Despite the above recommendations, high-quality research (e.g., random allocation to experimental and control groups) has been relatively rare in secondary and tertiary prevention-related interventions aimed at reducing symptoms of occupational burnout.

[176] A shortcoming of CBT and other tertiary interventions is that they help to restructure the thinking of the worker/patient but do not change the adverse working conditions that give rise to the symptoms.

Kim and Lee[178] recommended that organizations provide timely accurate information on activities and policies in order to minimize emotional exhaustion.