ABSTRACT
The term Burnout Syndrome was first used in 1974 by the New York psychoanalyst Herbert Freudenberger from his observations of care-workers. Cleric Stephen Wright explains, burnout tends predominantly to affect professional carers of all sorts who may be bringing their natural heart-centredness into their jobs. Psychologist Isabella Heuser understands burnout predominantly as a male term Its no coincidence that it's been invented by a man. The term contains the message that at least they did make an effort. This seems to be clearly expressed in Beautiful Burnout, Bryony Lavery's play about the explosively visceral world of boxing: the soul sapping three minute bursts where men become gods and gods become men. Burnout is a desperate cry of the very essence of who we are/the higher self/the soul to break free. It is the struggle to be in the world in which we find and give love and compassion.
