Tired, anxiety, irritability, digestive disorders, insomnia, physical pain, increased heart rate … very different symptoms to characterize the same disease: burn out. This syndrome is the subject of a bill aimed at recognizing it as an “occupational disease”, examined today in the National Assembly. But before considering such a classification, theMedical academyconsiders that this pathology should be clearly defined. Because, for the moment, the term burn out includes various disorders, which makes its diagnosis difficult. “The expansion of the term burn out is a source of confusion due to the imprecise limits of this reality“thus writes the Academy of Medicine in a report published on February 16, 2016, directed by Professor Jean-Pierre Olié and Doctor Patrick Légeron, psychiatrists. These specialists underline in this report that the symptoms of burn out”are partly part of depressive disorders and adjustment disorders“.
Distinguish between ill-being and illness
The Academy of Medicine thus wishes a distinction to be made between fatigue or discomfort and real emotional pathology. Only the latter can give rise to drug treatment. But to properly differentiate and identify these disorders, doctors should establish a precise grid of criteria: “priority must be given to so-called societal diseases (somatic and psychological complications of stress) in training programs for medical students and in the continuing professional development of health professionals“thus specifies the report.
At present, in France, the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (InVS) estimates that 480,000 employees suffering from burnout.
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