Throwing the baby out with the bathwater–while adding the bathtub too: a rejoinder to “Beliefs about burnout” of Bianchi and Schonfeld

Abstract

In their commentary, [Bianchi, R. & Schonfeld, I. (2025. Beliefs about burnout. Work & Stress)] discuss three beliefs about burnout and state that these “rest on insufficient evidence”: (1) burnout is primarily predicted by work-related factors; (2) a burnout epidemic exists; and (3) burnout can be differentiated from depression. We argue that the authors' presentation of these ideas runs the risk of not only throwing the baby out with the bathwater but also throwing away the bathtub. Our rejoinder first of all emphasises the need to distinguish between (typically mild) burnout complaints, and burnout disorder (or “clinical burnout”). We conclude that there are compelling empirical grounds to consider both burnout complaints and burnout disorder to be work related. Next, we present evidence that burnout complaints increased slightly over time, whereas clinical burnout is rather exceptional and stable, suggesting that the notion of a “burnout pandemic” is indeed overstated. Finally, conceptual and empirical evidence and evidence from clinical practice indicates that both burnout complaints and burnout disorder can be meaningfully differentiated from depression. We conclude that a nuanced debate is preferable to a simplistic rejection of burnout, based on both conceptual and empirical grounds and the relevance of the burnout concept for practice.