What is burnout disease?

Burnout is now a real medical diagnosis, according to the International Classification of Diseases.

Stock image of a woman with her head in her hands with a pensive stressed look.

You’ve seen run-down patients who have trouble at work. It may be viral, a heart condition, or it may be that they have “burnout disease.”

A CNN article says burnout is a feeling of extreme work stress, and now it’s an official medical condition.

According to the World Health Organization’s handbook, the symptoms of burnout disease are “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job or negative feelings towards one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.”

The article claims that before you can make the call on burnout disease, you have to rule out other conditions such as anxiety and mood disorders.

Burnout disease occurs when stress in the workplace goes unchecked, and the better we understand stress, the more likely we are to avoid facing a burnout. ViewMedica has a stress-related video that subscribers to its On-Demand and VMcast waiting room TV services can use.