The burnout syndrome is a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by long term exposure to demanding work situations. It has been suggested that different personal factors, such as gender, age and daily number of patients have influence on the development of this syndrome. The objectives of this study were the following: 1) to assess and compare expressiveness of the dimensions of burnout in psychiatrists; 2) to assess correlation with potential etiological factors (gender, age, number of patients).

The sample consisted of 50 psychiatrists working in health care institutions on the territory of Belgrade. Assessment has been carried out by the Maslach Burnout Inventory and sociodemogafic questionnaire.

The score of the burnout syndrome was different between the three dimensions. i.e. dimension of emotional exhaustion was the most prominent, but moderately increased. Dimension of depersonalization was very low and the lack of personal accomplishment was also moderate but with lower values. We could not find significant correlation with gender, age, nor with number of patients.

Some of potential causative factors associated with the burnout syndrome were investigated. It is important to further explore the correlation between this syndrome and various variables, such personality characteristics, coping strategies and organizational characteristics.

[1] Lecic Tosevski D et al: Burnout syndrome of general practitioners in post war period. Epidemiologia e Psychiatria Sociale, 15 (4): 307-10, 2006.