Specifics of the emotional burnout syndrome in the representatives of "helping" professions

Abstract

Relevance. Emotional burnout is dangerous due to the presence of a wide range of neurotic and psychosomatic symptoms. The article discusses the features of the structure and formation of the emotional burnout syndrome as manifestations of personal value-semantic deformations. Burnout has been found to be negatively associated with solving existential problems. The study aims to explore the specifics of the emotional burnout syndrome as manifestations of personal value-semantic deformations in the representatives of "helping" professions. Materials and methods. The study involved 968 respondents employed in the field of "helping" professions. Of the entire sample, 465 people (consulted persons) made up the main research group, and 503 individuals were included into the control group. The main study methods were clinical and psychological and experimental-psychological. Results. Psychodiagnostics made it possible to clarify the types of emotional states and self-attitudes that characterized the specificity of burnout. Psychodiagnostic examination confirmed the presence in the subjects studied the elements of existential crisis associated with both professional situations and the personality traits of the "burned out" persons. Conclusions. Emotional burnout syndrome is a "payment" not for sympathy and love for people from the representatives of "helping" professions, but for their unfulfilled expectations, for the lack of sometimes visible result of work, for the loss of the activities meaning, for the devaluation of efforts by those around him.