ABSTRACT
Opinions on the use of burnout as an individual diagnostic label differ greatly. For some, it is a diabolic label because it may lead to the stigmatising of employees and increases the risk of individualisation and medicalisation. The fact that burnout scores correlate highly across time may either mean that burnout is a trait-like mental condition or that the stressful job environment remains stable over time. In principle, longitudinal research in rapidly changing work environments or among newcomers who enter their careers might solve this issue. High correlations with personality traits are noteworthy, especially neuroticism and negative affectivity, and with depression and self-reported psychosomatic complaints. Furthermore, burnout is related to quantitative workload instead of qualitative demands that result from problems in interacting with difficult recipients or dealing with their emotional problems. This is quite remarkable because traditional conceptualisations of burnout assume that emotionally charged interactions with recipients are its root cause.
