ABSTRACT
Psychological burnout is a complex phenomenon, and research on this construct has reflected its complexity. Maslach (Chapter 2) emphasized the origins of burnout research in social, rather than clinical, psychology. However, this field of inquiry is characterized by a persistent tension between social and clinical perspectives. The term used to describe this research field, burnout, is the label for an extreme end state that shares many features with the clinical syndrome of depression (Firth, Mclntee, McKeown, & Britton, 1986; Meier, 1984). Although the term appears to be an appropriate description for a distressing state experienced by human services workers overwhelmed by the emotional demands of their work, the activity occurring under the general label of burnout research has been concerned with much more than this extreme state. In fact, it is the contention of this chapter that the viability of burnout as a research area depends on a thorough understanding of the full range of experiences assessed in burnout studies. This goal will be facilitated by the development of models 238that articulate the relationships among components of burnout and their relationships with organizational and personal conditions.
