A psychoanalytic-existential approach to burnout: Demonstrated in the cases of a nurse, a teacher, and a manager.

A psychoanalytic-existential approach to understanding and treating burnout is presented and demonstrated in the cases of a nurse, a teacher, and a manager. According to the existential perspective, the root cause of burnout lies in people's need to find existential significance in their lives and their sense that the work they do does not provide it. The reason why people choose to derive a sense of significance through a particular career is explained by the psychoanalytic perspective, which attributes it to significant childhood experiences and family of origin dynamic. A treatment approach based on the psychoanalytic-existential approach is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)