In the 1970s, New York psychologist Herbert Freudenberger felt overworked, but also like he wasn't accomplishing anything-a confusing combination. After some expert self-analysis, he determined that he wasn't suffering simply from exhaustion or depression. Rather, he identified a new condition, which he termed burnout, after the listless drug addicts he treated who'd watch their cigarettes burn down instead of smoking them. He wrote a book on his discovery in 1980-Burnout: The High Cost of High Achieve-ment-but the term didn't really catch on until the paperback came out in 1989, when he was interviewed by both Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue.
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