Burnout, Fatigue, Exhaustion: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on a Modern Affliction

Our age, it seems, is the age of exhaustion. The prevalence of exhaustion – both as an individual experience and as a broader socio-cultural phenomenon – is manifest in the epidemic rise of burnout, depression, and chronic fatigue. It is equally present in a growing disenchantment with capitalism in its current neo-liberal form, in concerns about the psycho-social repercussions of ever-faster information and communication technologies, in a general distrust in grand narratives, and in anxieties about ecological sustainability.

Since the precise organic causes of chronic exhaustion are still being debated, exhaustion theories entail by definition assumptions about the relationship between the mind, the body, and society, which are often ideologically charged. Exhaustion theories frequently act as discursive spaces in which specific cultural discontents are negotiated. They therefore present fascinating case studies for an investigation of the ways in which individual discomfort and wider social dynamics are interrelated.

This multidisciplinary essay collection explores the connections and tensions between sociological, psychological, and biologic theories of exhaustion. Examining the status of exhaustion-syndromes in sociological, medical, psychological, psychiatric, literary, and historical accounts, it provides groundbreaking analyses of the complex interplay between the processes involved in the production of mental health diagnoses, socio-cultural transformations, and subjective illness experiences.