Treatment strategies for different types of teacher burnout

Abstract

Using teachers as a prototype, this article suggests that there are three types of burnout: "wearout," wherein an individual gives up, feeling depleted in confronting stress; "classic" burnout, wherein an individual works increasingly hard in the face of stress; and an "underchallenged" type, wherein an individual is faced not with excessive degrees of stress per se (e.g., overload), but rather with monotonous and unstimulating work conditions. The major arguments put forward are that: a) clinicians should avoid treating teacher burnout as if it were a single phenomenon, and instead tailor their treatment to the specific type of burnout manifested by their client; and b) these treatments, while embodying different elements, should be essentially integrative in nature. Psychoanalytic insight, cognitive restructuring, empathic concern, and stress-reduction techniques may all be necessary, albeit in different combinations, to treat successfully burnout of each type.