BOOK CLUB

As part of an occasional series of book reviews, Danielle Gibbens carefully turns the pages of Burnout by Gordon Parker, Gabriella Tavella and Kerrie Eyers

Those of you who had the pleasure of attending the DHAA 2022 Symposium in Darwin (a reminder to get your tickets for Adelaide ASAP so you don't miss out on this year's fun!) may recall hearing about this book. Associate Professor Matt Hopcraft and Roisin McGrath did a joint presentation which moved me to tears numerous times about their experiences with mental health related to their work. It goes without saying that we are a unique profession and for the twenty years I have been a part of it I know until this event I had not had the exposure to others’ perspectives on their experiences with feeling burnout.

Given we are about to get to the pointy end of the year I thought it was a great time to dust this one off and encourage those of you that might be feeling as if you might be feeling burnout or have someone in your practice showing signs, to pick this one up and see if this groundbreaking research can help.

Let’s start with who wrote it given we are making such bold claims as groundbreaking. Professor Gordon Parker is an academic psychiatrist specialising in mood disorders, with a particular interest in the optimal ways to model and account for heterogeneity in both their diagnosis and treatment. He is currently a Scientia Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and has worked for over 50 years as a clinician and researcher, is the founder and executive director of the Black Dog Institute, head of the School of Psychiatry at UNSW, director of the Divisions of Psychiatry at Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals, and editor-inchief of the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

Professor Parker has devoted his research efforts to elucidating precise definitions and the clinical differentiation of mood disorders and related conditions, leading to the development of properly tailored management options and customised intervention models. In particular, he has applied these to the study of the clinical syndromes of burnout and melancholia (as distinct from depression), and bipolar disorder subtypes (as distinct from each other and from personality and psychotic disorders).

With the help of co-authors Gabriela Tavella (research officer) and Kerrie Eyers (psychologist), Burnout was published in 2021. It is described as the first complete guide to burnout helping the reader identify if they have burnout along with strategies for recovery.

Even for those of us not feeling as if we are experiencing ‘burnout’ it is a great text to read to help us understand what others who may be experiencing burnout may be feeling given it goes to great lengths to explain what ‘burnout’ actually is versus how it is so often depicted. It also gives the reader a chance to understand the difference between burnout and depression.

It goes without saying the last few years have highlighted how the study of mental health has been neglected. This fascinating study, mentioned as the first of its kind, highlights how our modern world has our brains working harder than ever without the opportunity to recover. Given the unlikelihood of this change being slim, we must adapt to our new environment and the way in which the authors feel we can do this is with stronger mental agility.

Given this is the first book on the topic I expect further research, studies and even further editions of this book will follow but for now, for those who may need it, there is this first stepping stone to a better understanding of a condition we have all heard of but may not have taken all that seriously. n

Do you have a book, journal, or podcast that you think others would love to know about? Send it through to be reviewed; email the details to bulletin@dhaa.info