Includes index.

1. What is burn-out? : Why the helping professions? ; Burn-out: its nature, extent, and variations ; Dynamics of contagion ; Stages of disillusionment -- 2. Recognition and scope of the problem : Formal and informal recognition ; From the particular to the universal ; Present and future directions ; Other perspectives ; The five-state system -- 3. Idealistic enthusiasm : Why people become helpers ; Expectations ; The cycle of expectations ; A portrait of the enthusiast ; Overidentification ; The price of realism -- 4. The small world of stagnation : Elusive results ; Contagion of attitudes ; Effects on personal and family life -- 5. Career dead end : Low pay ; Dead ends throughout the hierarchy ; The dilemmas of career advancement ; A case of stagnation -- 6. Politics and powerlessness : Powerlessness ; No support for important decisions ; Bad office politics -- 7. The givens of the system : System not responsive to clients' needs ; Not appreciated by supervisor ; Not appreciated by clients ; Too much paper work ; Not sufficiently trained for job -- 8. Frustrations, reactions, and consequences : "Wild card" frustrations ; Effects on client services ; The symptoms of frustration ; Responses to frustration -- 9. The retreat into apathy : From empathy to apathy ; Apathy in the raw: the "drug-free" counselor ; Group apathy: the psychiatric ward ; Co-optation: the old-timer and the novice ; Giving up: retreat and survival ; Through the four stages: the case of a burned-out social worker -- 10. Realistic vs. unrealistic interventions : False interventions ; Applying reality therapy to burn-out ; Taking responsibility ; Realistic expectations -- 11. Problem-solving on and off the job : Confronting the situation ; Job-related interventions ; Off-the-job interventions: from small world to large ; Organizational interventions ; Intervention by stages.