Psychotherapist burnout: A componential analysis.

A random sample of 68 practicing psychotherapists in Texas completed surveys that included the Maslach Burnout Inventory, demographic questions, and questions designed to assess their intent to leave the profession, their treatment orientation, and their perceived ideal caseload. Results indicated that demographic variables and treatment orientation were not accurate predictors of therapists' burnout. However, psychotherapists who worked for agencies had more symptoms of burnout than did colleagues who worked solely in private practice. The therapists' actual caseload was not associated with burnout, but their satisfaction with their caseload was. Therapists who indicated that their ideal caseload would be smaller than their current caseload were more burned out than those who were satisfied with their caseload. In addition, burnout was predictive of the therapists' reported intentions to leave psychotherapy for other professions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)