I am not saying its not a problem, but I am struggling to see it as a mental health issue.
The first hit I got on Google doesn't talk about exhaustion or burnout. It does mention depression, which I agree with.
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/an-introduct...
EDIT: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-healt...
> All sorts of situations can cause stress. The most common involve work, money matters and relationships with partners, children or other family members. Stress may be caused either by major upheavals and life events such as divorce, unemployment, moving house and bereavement, or by a series of minor irritations such as feeling undervalued at work or dealing with difficult children. Sometimes there are no obvious causes.
> Stressful events that are outside the range of normal human experience, for example being abused or tortured, may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
> Some stress can be positive. Research shows that a moderate level of stress makes us perform better. It also makes us more alert and can help us perform better in situations such as job interviews or public speaking. Stressful situations can also be exhilarating and some people actually thrive on the excitement that comes with dangerous sports or other high-risk activities.
> But stress is only healthy if it is short-lived. Excessive or prolonged stress can lead to illness and physical and emotional exhaustion. Taken to extremes, stress can be a killer.
And for most people that's going to be small interventions - having a coffee with a friend who is talking to you for example. The interventions taper up as the severity of the illness increases. Talking therapies; medication; hospital in-patient stays; rarely, if someone is at risk of death or of harming other people they can be hospitalised against their will; even more rarely there's ECT.
We know that early intervention is important. And modern mental health services should be talking about "resilience" which increases someones ability to cope with daily life.
And if you think about it, stressing your body makes it stronger. That's why working out builds muscles.
And of course, this only applies, if the stress doesn't take the form of your head being hit by a hammer.
Besides whether your mind is physical or not doesn't really matter all that much. What matters is that it's mutable. It can be changed, for better or worse and that change depends on the environment.
The work life balance issue itself can also just be a symptom of something else entirely.
It's a bit like calling addiction a willpower issue. Yes, the lack of willpower is the direct cause, but the underlying causes can be entirely unrelated (which is why recidivism is a common occurrence if you just dump the "healed" addict back in the same environment he came from).
Burnout is mostly used as a more socially acceptable synonym for some cases of depression, so it's difficult to talk about. Mental health issues are complicated enough as it is. Especially because even those suffering from them often fail to address them for what they are.
Did you even read my second paragraph? Even though it might be caused by a bad work/life balance, that doesn't mean that it isn't a mental issue when you eventually become burnt out.
It's like a depressed person who starts exercising and gets some relief from that - "Oh, then it seems that your problem was your physical fitness, not anything to do with depression". It seems a bit myopic.
