World Health Organization officially recognizes 'burnout' as a medical condition

LOS ANGELES - Are you just completely over your job? Do you feel generally cynical and negative in the workplace? You might be experiencing burnout, and the term has actually been declared a legitimate medical diagnosis by the World Health Organization.  

According to the International Classification of Diseases, otherwise known as the ICD-11, burnout has three key symptoms:

    * feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
    * Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job 
    * reduced professional efficacy 

The ICD-11 describes the condition as a syndrome “resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” The ICD-11 is the WHO’s handbook for classifying and diagnosing diseases for medical providers.

The syndrome of burnout that has faced criticism over its legitimacy in the past has now been officially validated by medical health professionals for those seeking serious help for the condition. 

The phenomenon of burnout was first described in 1974 by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, who is considered the founding father of the concept, according to a study on the state of the diagnosis. 

According to the American Institute of Stress, an estimated one million workers are absent every day due to stress and dozens of studies have linked stress to various health conditions. 

If you are experiencing any of those symptoms, a doctor could diagnose you with official burnout syndrome, but The ICD-11 says that burnout is specific to work environments and “should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.”