Psychologists are at high risk of stress and occupational burnout due to the nature of the profession.
Mindfulness interventions are promising for psychologist burnout, yet require further study for efficacy.Acknowledging the rigorous and often emotionally demanding journey from study to practice underlines the need to address burnout early in psychologists' careers.Once registered, psychologists witness and process others' emotional demands.
Sifting 4,831 records from research databases, we identified 15 studies that aligned with our criteria of interventions for burnout or stress among psychology professionals or those on the training pathway. Of the 15, seven utilisedNot surprisingly, stress and burnout are prevalent within the psychology profession. Burnout occurred at higher frequencies among psychology trainees and those in the earlier stages of their careers.
Although 10 of the 15 studies had clinically significant results, only 8 included effect sizes . Meaningful comparisons between studies proved challenging, as the studies varied between group interventions, online training courses, and programs and concurrent techniques.One of the interesting observations to come out of the research is that there does not appear to be a ‘gold standard’ definition, nor a clear symptomology established, for burnout.
However, mindfulness interventions showed promise for reducing stress. Since burnout can be conceptualised as the endpoint of stress, it may be that reducing psychologists' stress is the most effective approach to reducing burnout.Bell, C., Roberts, G. L. R., Millear, P. M., Allen, A., Wood, A. P., Kannis-Dymand, L., Jona, C. M., & Mason, J. . The emotionally exhausted treating the mentally unwell? A systematic review of burnout and stress interventions for psychologists.