Leadership

Burnout, Depression And Paranoid Ideation

Teachers who are burned out at work are experiencing symptoms of paranoia according to this study published in the scientific journal, Occupational Medicine. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between burnout and paranoid ideation. The research found that those teachers who scored highly on the burnout scale were likely to be experiencing symptoms of paranoia.

Burnout is thought to result from unresolvable work stress and leads to people experiencing emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, where they start to see others as impersonal objects. 

Emotional exhaustion constitutes the central characteristic of burnout as well as the entry point into the syndrome; refers to a coping strategy regarding depersonalisation. 

Depersonalisation has been conceived of as an immediate reaction to emotional exhaustion; emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation have been claimed to ‘go together’ and ‘mutually reinforce one another’. 

From an etiological standpoint, burnout is thought to result from unresolvable work stress. Burnout has become a popular construct among occupational health specialists over the last few decades. However, burnout is not an established diagnostic category, and its overlap with depression is problematic, both at an etiological and a symptom level. 

The spectrum of paranoid ideation goes from mild distrust and suspiciousness to full-blown persecutory delusions, and research suggests that paranoid thinking may be a regular experience in one in three individuals in the general population. 

However, a growing body of evidence indicates that paranoid ideation is associated with social stress and work stress. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between burnout and paranoid ideation, based on reliable measures of the variables. 

<--- The article continues for users subscribed and signed in. --->

Enjoy unlimited digital access to Teaching Times.
Subscribe for £7 per month to read this and any other article
  • Single user
  • Access to all topics
  • Access to all knowledge banks
  • Access to all articles and blogs
Subscribe for the year for £70 and get 2 months free
  • Single user
  • Access to all topics
  • Access to all knowledge banks
  • Access to all articles and blogs