Beyond Burnout

by Cary Cherniss

Why are so many in the helping professions perceived as lacking idealism or commitment? Beyond Burnout , based on a unique, in-depth, longitudinal study, explores the source of this problem. Professionals describe in their own words what happened to them when their idealism collided with the realities of their work.

248 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 1995

Reviews

[Elie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very academic read with conclusions and reflections that are mostly commonplace or intuitive—with the exception of the thought around moral community.

[Leslie Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been doing some research on job burnout and this was included in my stack. If you're researching the psychology of burnout, go to Christina Maslach. She's the expert and I'm glad I read her work before this one. This is a case study of first year professionals and then a follow up study of the same workers 10 years later. There are some interesting observations about how job burnout treatments can be successful and when they fail, but the title is somewhat misleading. I didn't get as much practical application knowledge from this book as from others. There was also a great deal of repetition in the writing, a personal pet peeve. Academic writing doesn't get a pass that allows you to use the same sentence in different chapters. I would recommend individuals in these professions review this study for issues related to burnout, but don't rely on it to provide enough information. It should also be noted that the book is focusing on a specific type of lawyer, those generally in public aid, so less here is relevant to corporate lawyers who may be experiencing burnout from billing hour demands.