Beyond Burnout: Helping Teachers, Nurses, Therapists and Lawyers Recover From Stress and Disillusionment [Paperback]

Why are so many in the helping professions perceived as lacking idealism or commitment? Beyond Burnout, based on a unique, in-depth, longitudinal study, explores the source of this problem. Professionals describe in their own words what happened to them when their idealism collided with the realities of their work.Part One: Setting the Stage: 1. The First Year: Thought I'd Died and Gone to Hell ; 2. From Stress to Burnout; Part Two: The Next Decade: 3. The Flight from Public Service; 4. More Compassion-For Those Who Deserve It; 5. More Open to change-On Their Terms; 6. Why Work? Shifting Priorities; 7. Fulfillment and Regret; Part Three: How Some Overcame Burnout: 8. Five Who Prevailed; 9. Antidotes to Burnout: Finding Meaningful Work; 10. Antidotes to Burnout: Finding Greater Professional Autonomy and Support; 11. Antidotes to Burnout: What the Individual Brings to Work; 12. Some Implications for Policy and Practice; 13. What's Missing? The Quest for Meaning.Cary Cherniss is Professor of Applied Psychology at Rutgers University. He is the author of Professional Burnout in Human Service Organizations and Staff Burnout: Job Stress in the Human Services as well as numerous articles on burnout. Cherniss...was among the first to note that burnout...must also be viewed as a reflection of a society...Much of the strength of this book comes from its reliance on extensive interview data...Cherniss consistently avoids simplistic conclusions or formulations; burnout and related phenomena are understood...as outcomes resulting from multiple, interactive sources...Similarly, individuals are not criticized...for failing to be extraordinary in nearly impossible situations...l#