Burnout in Mental Health Professionals: The Roles of Psychological Flexibility, Awareness, Courage, and Love

Abstract

The burntout phenomenon has been well-studied in psychology and is receiving increasing attention from contextual-behavioral approaches. In the dominant model of burnout, which has garnered much empirical support (Maslach et al., 2001), burnout comprises three dimensions: emotional exhaustion (EE; being emotionally overextended and depleted), depersonalization (D; feeling negative, callous, and excessively detached from clients and customers), and lack of personal accomplishment (PA; feeling incompetent and lacking experiences of success and achievement). Consistent with contextual-behavioral emphases, burnout is considered to be a syndrome involving these three dimensions, mutually influenced by contextual and individual variables (Maslach & Goldberg, 1998).Although burnout is a problem across many professions (Maslach et al., 2001), it may be a significant problem for those in medical and mental health professions who have continuous contact with human suffering (Grau et al., 2009; Ortega-Ruiz & López-Rios, 2004;Romani & Ashkar, 2014). In these contexts, depersonalization specifically may have important negative consequences for professionals and their clients.A recent meta-analysis on the effectiveness of interventions to reduce burnout suggested that various interventions result in significant though modest reductions in emotional exhaustion but do not affect depersonalization or personal accomplishment (Maricu oiu et al., 2016). Interestingly, only one intervention, focused on teaching Clínica y Salud (2020) 31(2) 85-90

Protective role of mindfulness, self‐compassion and psychological flexibility on the burnout subtypes among psychology and nursing undergraduate students

“…Different studies have found strong associations between psychological flexibility and the burnout syndrome (Losa Iglesias et al, 2010;Noone & Hastings, 2011). These correlations have also been described in the case of health professionals, whose constant exposure to human suffering may trigger emotional exhaustion through the usage of experiential avoidance (Ortiz-Fune et al, 2020).…”

Stress and burnout amongst mental health professionals in Singapore during Covid-19 endemicity

“…In another study that focused on self-efficacy change as the mediator on the relationship between exhaustion and disengagement among 346 MHP, Rogala et al [ 20 ] reported that exhaustion predicted disengagement about 6 months later and that self-efficacy beliefs have a mediating effect on the relationship. In addition to self-efficacy, other variables such as mindfulness and psychological flexibility can also mediate the relationship between exhaustion and disengagement [ 21 , 22 ]. More research is warranted in this area to help us better understand the inter-relationships between germane factors and identify strategies to reduce burnout.…”

Psychological flexibility and COVID-19 burnout in Chinese college students: A moderated mediation model

“…For this reason, psychological flexibility may act as a protective role of burnout and this relationship has been found in several studies in various work contexts. These studies showed that psychological flexibility negatively relates to burnout ( Lloyd et al, 2013 ; Noone & Hastings, 2011 ; Ortiz-Fune et al, 2020 ).…”