Burnout, Post-Traumatic Stress and work-related injuries have a complex relationship within the frontline emergency service worker population. The research literature shows there is significant overlap and correlation between Burnout and PTSD, with the experience of Burnout being positively associated with the development of PTSD following an acute stress response (ASR) diagnosis, and with the severity and duration of PTSD symptoms.
Burnout, an occupational phenomenon rather than a disease state, is defined by the experience of three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. PTSD is a medically diagnosable Stress Disorder experienced in response to exposure to a traumatic event.
IPAR vocational rehabilitation consultants have first-hand experience of the relationship between Burnout and PTSD in frontline workers in the context of facilitating their sustainable return to work following a workplace injury. Whilst Burnout and PTSD have been shown to intersect and overlap, there is little evidence investigating the cyclical nature of the two diagnoses. Through the presentation of illustrative case examples from the vocational rehabilitation context, anecdotal evidence of this cyclical nature will be demonstrated.
The selected case studies will illustrate that those experiencing Burnout may present with a decreased capacity to cope with exposure to trauma, and a higher risk of developing ASR, then PTSD; and that those experiencing ASR or PTSD often present in the vocational rehabilitation context with a decreased capacity to participate in pre-diagnosis or pre-trauma workloads, and as such are at risk of developing Burnout upon continued exposure to the workplace and workload – and so the cycle continues.