Angelika Van Hoy
Marcin Rzeszutek- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
Objectives: The general aim of this systematic review is to synthesize, analyze, and critically review existing studies concerning the relationship between sociodemographic, intrapersonal, and work-related factors and burnout, as well as psychological wellbeing among psychotherapists.
Methodology: We performed a structured literature search utilizing the PRISMA framework in the following databases: Web of Science, Scopus, MedLine, PsyARTICLES, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. The most relevant inclusion criteria were quantitative and peer-reviewed articles published in English.
Results: After the selection process, we accepted 52 articles for further systematic review. Thirty-eight studies examined burnout among psychotherapists, while the other 14 studies focused on psychological wellbeing in this sample.
Conclusions: Burnout and wellbeing among psychotherapists are related to numerous sociodemographic (e.g., age, gender), intrapersonal (e.g., coping, personality), and work-related characteristics, including work settings and professional support in this profession (e.g., supervision or personal therapy). However, the high heterogeneity observed between studies in terms of burnout and wellbeing operationalization and measurement warrants more consistent and advanced methodological models of these theoretical constructs in the future in this specific sample.
Introduction
Although Freud (1937, 1964) highlighted several negative phenomena in therapeutic settings constituting the danger of analysis for the analysts themselves, studies on the psychological health of psychotherapists are lacking in psychotherapy, which has traditionally concentrated solely on the clients of psychotherapy rather than on the psychotherapists (see systematic reviews: Simionato and Simpson, 2018; Lee et al., 2020). Nevertheless, the psychotherapeutic occupation is associated with multidimensional psychological distress, primarily including a high degree of emotional strain and constant demands for empathy, which all pose a significant risk of burnout among psychotherapists (Simionato and Simpson, 2018). Maslach et al. (2001) created one of the most prevalent in the literature model of burnout, which defines this syndrome in terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced feelings of work-related personal accomplishment. According to Maslach et al. (2001), burnout is particularly common in helping professions. However, it is worth underlining the fact that in contrast to other helping occupations in the health care field (e.g., physicians or nurses; Schaufeli et al., 2009; Woo et al., 2020), burnout research among psychotherapists is much less prevalent (Lee et al., 2020). However, existing studies have demonstrated that psychotherapists who experience burnout, are no longer able to manage therapeutic processes, which may even endanger their clients (e.g., Farber and Heifetz, 1982; Ackerley et al., 1988; Rupert and Morgan, 2005; Berjot et al., 2013). They also suffer from several somatic and psychological disorders, including back pain, headaches, gastroenteritis, depression, and substance abuse (Raquepaw and Miller, 1989; Rupert and Kent, 2007), and they frequently express job turnover intentions (Rosenberg and Pace, 2006; Garcia et al., 2014). Previous systematic reviews on burnout among psychotherapists (Simionato and Simpson, 2018; Lee et al., 2020) have concentrated almost entirely on homogeneous groups of predictors (work-related or sociodemographic factors, e.g., caseload, years of experience, age, or gender) and the burnout measures used (mostly Maslach Burnout Inventory and its scales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment; Maslach et al., 2001). Nevertheless, it is not entirely clear why there are so many discrepancies in burnout prevalence among psychotherapists from various countries, ranging from 6% to as high as 54% (Farber, 1990; Hannigan et al., 2004; Berjot et al., 2017). On the one hand, this may be related to overlooking other burnout measures in this occupational group and alternative theoretical burnout models (e.g., Demerouti et al., 2001). On the other hand, an insufficient focus on psychotherapists' intrapersonal variables (personality, social support, and self-compassion) as burnout risk factors may also be a reason for the aforementioned inconclusive findings on burnout prevalence in this professional group (Rzeszutek and Schier, 2014; Yip et al., 2017).
Compared to burnout studies, much less research has investigated the issue of psychological wellbeing among psychotherapists (Laverdière et al., 2018, 2019; Brugnera et al., 2020). In other words, while there is a relative consensus regarding why and how the psychotherapeutic profession may be damaging to psychotherapists' mental health, very little is known about personal, social, and work-related characteristics that can foster higher wellbeing and quality of life among psychotherapists. To the best of our knowledge, the existing literature does not contain a systematic review on that topic. This latter issue is of fundamental significance, as several classic reviews have noted that clients choose to work with psychotherapists who they perceive as psychologically healthy and satisfied with their own life (Wogan and Norcross, 1985; Lambert and Barley, 2001). In addition, some authors have observed that the poor quality of life and associated mental difficulties of a psychotherapist may significantly hamper their ability to forge a therapeutic alliance (Enochs and Etzbach, 2004; Holmqvist and Jeanneau, 2006). Overall, the aforementioned results support a need for further studies on psychotherapists' mental health, both from a negative (burnout), as well as a positive perspective (wellbeing) as a crucial issue related to the overall process and outcomes of psychotherapy.
Objective
The general aim of this systematic review is to synthesize, analyze, and critically review existing studies concerning the relationship between intrapersonal and work-related factors and burnout and psychological wellbeing among psychotherapists. We focused on various theoretical models and associated measures of burnout in the literature (see Methodology). Regarding the concept of wellbeing, we concentrated on its vast operationalizations and assessments, as suggested in the respective literature (Laverdière et al., 2018, 2019; Brugnera et al., 2020), to better capture the uniqueness of that phenomenon in that specific occupation. More specifically, we included both positive (e.g., quality of life, satisfaction with life, and satisfaction with job) and negative dimensions of wellbeing among psychotherapists (e.g., depression, traumatic stress, and secondary traumatic stress). Importantly, we wanted to clearly distinguish these latter factors in particular, namely negative wellbeing indicators for burnout, based on numerous authors indicating that they are two robust and separate constructs (see e.g., Bakker et al., 2000; Maslach et al., 2001; Schaufeli et al., 2009; Koutsimani et al., 2019).
Methodology
Systematic Review Protocol
The two authors of this review have performed the literature search and review, which adhered to the standards of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement (Moher et al., 2009; see Figure 1). We then searched the following databases on 06 November 2021: Web of Science, MedLine, Scopus, ProQuest, and PsyARTICLE. We also focused on Google Scholar as an additional source of gray literature (Bellefontaine and Lee, 2014). In Boolean algebra, the query consisted of the following terms for burnout: (“burnout” OR “fatigue” OR “job strain” OR “job stress*” OR “exhaustion” OR “occupational stress” OR “pressure” OR “cop*” OR “manag*”) AND (“psychologist*” OR “psychotherap*” OR “mental health professional*” OR “mental health work*” OR “social worker*” OR “counsel*”). The respective search terms for wellbeing were as follows: (“wellbeing” OR (“well” AND “being”) OR (“life” AND “satisf*”) OR “life-satisf*” OR “wellness” OR (“life” AND “quality”) OR “life-quality” OR “depress*” OR “anxi*” OR (“post-traumatic” AND “stress”) OR (“posttraumatic” AND “stress”) OR “ptsd”) AND (“psychologist*” OR “psychotherap*” OR “mental health professional*” OR “mental health work*” OR “social worker*” OR “counsel*”). In this review, we used the Covidence software to screen references and undertake data extraction.
Figure 1. Flow diagram. Based on: Moher et al. (2009).
Study Selection Criteria
Despite the English-language criterion, eligible studies must also meet the requirements enumerated below to be included in the systematic review:
(1) Type of study: We included only peer-reviewed, quantitative, empirical articles that assessed the relationship between work-related, personal, and social factors and burnout, as well as psychological wellbeing among psychotherapists. We eliminated other systematic reviews and meta-analyses, as well as editorials, letters, and qualitative studies.
(2) Participants: We included studies with samples of psychotherapists, with no restrictions related to gender, age, ethnicity, work experience, or therapeutic modality. We also accepted studies with mixed representations of, broadly speaking, mental health workers, which consisted of psychotherapists, as well as psychologists, psychiatrists, coaches, etc. We excluded studies that dealt with burnout or wellbeing among health care workers outside of the mental health arena.
(3) Methodology: We only accepted studies with psychometrically sound measurements of burnout and wellbeing outcomes. We excluded studies with no psychometric burnout or wellbeing measures.
(4) Quality of study: We based this on the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies (Shuang et al., 2015), which consisted of 14 criteria. Two independent evaluators investigated the studies (see Results and Figure 1). The evaluators were particularly interested in whether the study utilized validated measures using psychometric data and presented a clear operationalization of burnout and wellbeing and their predictors. Moreover, if we encountered articles by the same authors, we determined whether they used an identical sample of participants more than once. If this happened, only one of them was included in the final analysis.
Results
Screening and Eligibility
Initially, we identified 1,632 titles and abstracts via the search of the electronic databases, including 479 hits on Web of Science, 262 hits on MedLine, 506 hits on SCOPUS, 352 hits on Proquest, 20 hits on PsyARTICLES, and 13 hits on Google Scholar. After removing duplicates, we pared them down to 656 potentially eligible articles for further screening. After a comparison of two independent coders, including the consistency of abstract and full-text screening, as well as the quality assessment, 175 full articles remained for the assessment. Using the exclusion criteria, we eliminated 123 papers. Ultimately, we accepted 52 articles for systematic review, 38 for studies on burnout, and 14 for studies on psychological wellbeing among psychotherapists.
We managed to find articles dating from 1986 through 2021. The total sample size was n = 15,229, including 3,972 men, 11,005 women, 18 participants, who declared the “other” option, and 234 participants in a study that did not specify gender. Finally, 49/52 (94%) of the analyzed studies were cross-sectional.
Burnout and Wellbeing Measures
The most common measure of burnout was the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI, Maslach and Jackson, 1986), which measures three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment). Some authors using this scale created the global burnout score (see Table 1). Less utilized burnout measures were as follows: the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (Kristensen et al., 2005), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (Demerouti et al., 2001), and Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL; Stamm, 2010). These all followed the global burnout scores. The most frequently used wellbeing measures were Satisfaction with Life (Satisfaction with Life Scale; Diener et al., 1985), Professional Quality of Life Scale (Stamm, 2010), Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1985), and Psychological Wellbeing Scales (Ryff, 1989).
Table 1. Summary of data on burnout among psychotherapists.
It is worth mentioning several remarks concerning burnout and wellbeing assessment and operationalization. First, the vast majority of studies adopted the Maslach et al. (2001) burnout model. Second, in the eligible studies, the authors typically performed statistical analysis using the global burnout/wellbeing score. As the majority of studies used such a global burnout and/or wellbeing score, the final conclusions were also drawn from such global indicators. If more than one dimension of burnout or wellbeing was mentioned in the study, the result with the highest strength of associations with appropriate predictors was selected, which was recommended by other authors as well (Simionato and Simpson, 2018).
Tables 1, 2 summarize all the details related to the systematic review of our 52 final studies related to burnout (n = 38) and psychological wellbeing (n = 14) among psychotherapists.
Table 2. Summary of data on wellbeing among psychotherapists.
Summary of Findings and Main Conclusions
The primary goal of this systematic review was to synthesize, analyze, and critically review already-existing research regarding the relationship between intrapersonal and work-related factors, burnout, and psychological wellbeing among psychotherapists. In terms of burnout, the main focus was on various theoretical models and measures that were associated with the construct, although the Maslach et al. (2001) model was the most prevalent (see further). Within that model, we observed that the most common burnout dimension among psychotherapists was emotional exhaustion, which was consistent with previous reviews on that subject (Lee et al., 2020). The concept of wellbeing was examined in relation to its numerous operationalizations and assessments, specifically in the psychotherapeutic occupation. Both positive and negative dimensions of wellbeing were included. However, as was already underlined, we aimed to clearly distinguish these latter negative wellbeing indicators from burnout based on numerous authors indicating that they are two robust and separate constructs (see e.g., Bakker et al., 2000; Maslach et al., 2001; Schaufeli et al., 2009; Koutsimani et al., 2019). Finally, after a careful selection process, we included 52 articles in the review, 38 for burnout and 14 for wellbeing, published between 1986 and 2021. Selected papers satisfied the selection criteria regarding the content and quality of the studies (see Methods).
Sociodemographic, Intrapersonal, and Work-Related Factors Related to Burnout Among Psychotherapists
When it comes to sociodemographic correlates of burnout among psychotherapists, it appears that, in particular, age and gender play a significant role. Firstly, a total of nine relevant studies (i.e., those which provided data on the age-burnout association) revealed that younger psychotherapists tend to report increased levels of burnout symptoms in comparison to older and more experienced colleagues in that profession (Ackerley et al., 1988; Huberty and Huebner, 1988; van der Ploeg et al., 1990; Rupert and Kent, 2007; Rasmussen et al., 2016; Berjot et al., 2017; Allwood et al., 2020; Tsai et al., 2020; Kotera et al., 2021). This finding is consistent with the previous meta-analysis concerning the aforementioned relationship in various employment settings (Brewer and Shapard, 2004). In our specific context, this is explained by the fact that young psychotherapists often have excessively high and unrealistic expectations about their role in this job, and the subsequent reality crash may be a significant burnout catalyst for them (Rupert and Kent, 2007; Rasmussen et al., 2016; Berjot et al., 2017). Secondly, in terms of gender, studies have yielded mixed findings. On the one hand, higher burnout levels have been recorded among women in comparison to men (Emery et al., 2009; Allwood et al., 2020). This is consistent with gender role theory (Eagly, 1987), which suggests that women are more likely to express negative feelings (e.g., emotional and physical fatigue) compared to men, who typically conceal these emotions from others, which does not mean that they do not experience them. Thus, this could indicate an artificial overrepresentation of burnout among females, which would correspond with Rupert and Kent (2007), who reported contrasting evidence, with men experiencing more burnout than women in their sample of psychotherapists. A relevant meta-analysis on that topic demonstrated that men and women can experience burnout in different ways. For instance, women score higher on emotional exhaustion, whereas men score higher on depersonalization (Purvanova and Muros, 2010). In addition, it appears that the psychotherapeutic profession may be especially conducive to burnout among men due to gender differences in self-efficacy, which is usually higher among females in helping professions (e.g., Roohani and Iravani, 2020). Gender also moderates the effects of work stress and the association between self-efficacy and health in various professions (Shoji et al., 2016). Future research should also consider the “close-to-zero” gender differences observed in this context, which may explain discrepancies in this area of research, particularly when using the Maslach model (Purvanova and Muros, 2010).
Secondly, eight studies have highlighted the significant role of intrapersonal variables as burnout predictors among psychotherapists, including predominantly personality traits (Mills and Huebner, 1998; Rzeszutek and Schier, 2014; Lee et al., 2019; George-Levi et al., 2020; Smout et al., 2021) and various stress coping styles (Wilkerson and Bellini, 2006; Ben-zur and Michael, 2007; Malinowski, 2013). Generally, traits related to negative emotionality (e.g., neuroticism, emotional reactivity) were burnout predictors, while those associated with emotional stability and high levels of subjectively perceived resources (e.g., resilience) were buffers against this syndrome in this occupation. Similarly, emotion-oriented coping was positively correlated, while problem-focused coping or the use of humor to deal with work-related stress were negatively linked to burnout symptoms in this occupation. Although there are numerous studies on the personality-burnout (Alarcon et al., 2009) and coping-burnout association (Lee et al., 2016), this problem is still highly understudied in this specific occupation and calls for more research, ideally in the prospective methodological framework. Alternatively speaking, one should remember that aside from work-related characteristics, there are substantial intrapersonal factors related to burnout in that occupation, which until now were not sufficiently underlined in the contemporary reviews on that topic (Simionato and Simpson, 2018; Lee et al., 2019).
Finally, concerning work-related covariates, workload, and/or work experience, work settings and supervision/personal therapy exerted relatively homogenous effects on burnout. Six studies have revealed significant associations between high workload and increased levels of burnout (Huberty and Huebner, 1988; Raquepaw and Miller, 1989; Rupert and Kent, 2007; Rupert et al., 2009; Kim, 2017; Kotera et al., 2021). Similarly, four studies have suggested that less experienced psychotherapists were particularly vulnerable to burnout compared to their more experienced colleagues (van der Ploeg et al., 1990; Mills and Huebner, 1998; di Benedetto and Swadling, 2014; Kim, 2017). Specifically, these latter results generally corresponded with the previously mentioned role of the younger age of therapists as a significant burnout predictor in that job. Additionally, working in the public sector seemed to be positively associated with burnout levels, as highlighted by five studies (Raquepaw and Miller, 1989; van der Ploeg et al., 1990; Rupert and Kent, 2007; Emery et al., 2009; Berjot et al., 2017). This finding was usually explained by a lack of control over their own work environment among psychotherapists and an increased level of bureaucracy in such workplaces compared to private psychotherapists' offices, where they may feel that they have more control over when, where, and how they will be working with their clients. Lastly, personal therapy and/or supervision act as a buffer against burnout, as mentioned by five authors (Ackerley et al., 1988; Wiseman and Egozi, 2006; Deighton et al., 2007; Kim and Lee, 2009; Garcia et al., 2018), which is a highly important argument in the ongoing discussion related to self-care behaviors among psychotherapists (Norcross et al., 2008).
Sociodemographic, Intrapersonal, and Work-Related Factors Behind Psychological Wellbeing Among Psychotherapists
First of all, it is worth mentioning that to the best of our knowledge, no systematic review has investigated the problem of wellbeing and quality of life among psychotherapists in the literature thus far. This latter issue is of fundamental significance, as psychotherapists' poor quality of life and associated mental difficulties among psychotherapists may significantly hamper the entire psychotherapeutic process (Enochs and Etzbach, 2004; Holmqvist and Jeanneau, 2006). However, as may be visible when we compare the number of studies concerning burnout vs. wellbeing among psychotherapists (see Tables 1, 2), studies on the latter issue are particularly scarce, as attention has still focused mainly on negative aspects of psychotherapists' functioning. Thus, although we intended to fill this existing research gap, the empirical evidence on that subject is minimal compared to that concerning burnout among psychotherapists.
In the context of wellbeing among psychotherapists, the only significant relationships with sociodemographic variables were with age, but two studies presented contrasting results (Brugnera et al., 2020; Summers et al., 2021). On the one hand, older psychotherapists appeared to experience higher levels of wellbeing. This is consistent with findings concerning the role of age in the general population, which indicate that older adults tend to be more satisfied with their lives and experience enhanced psychosocial and economic conditions (Ulloa et al., 2013; Steptoe et al., 2015). On the other hand, older age was also a negative predictor of wellbeing; these results may be “time-specific,” as this was one of the few studies conducted during the COVID-19 era among this specific population. Perhaps older psychotherapists experience greater difficulties organizing their work, mainly due to the obligations inherent to online settings compared to their younger counterparts, who are typically much more fluent in new technologies.
Studies on intrapersonal variables related to psychotherapists' wellbeing have confirmed the role of personality as well as self-care behaviors, including self-compassion and mindfulness practices, in maintaining a high quality of life in that profession (Rzeszutek et al., 2015; Yip et al., 2017; Hitge and van Schalkwyk, 2018; Rupert and Dorociak, 2019; Yela et al., 2020). It appears that greater care for the personal emotional balance of psychotherapists is a crucial, but highly understudied issue, both in the empirical field, as well as in relation to psychotherapists' training procedures involving various therapeutic modalities (Laverdière et al., 2018).
Concerning work-related characteristics, only workload, work experience, and professional support were significant. Workload and amount of experience in the profession appeared to be important in terms of psychological wellbeing (Schlarb et al., 2012; Laverdière et al., 2018; Summers et al., 2021). Higher workload was revealed to be a negative predictor of wellbeing, while less experience seemed to be related to lower life satisfaction, especially if both elements were present. This latter finding is consistent with the previously mentioned data and socio-demographic and work-related factors behind burnout in this profession. Moreover, three studies consistently proved that supervision and general support from team coworkers played a positive role in terms of wellbeing (Roncalli and Byrne, 2016; Fleury et al., 2017; Müller et al., 2020). This is another argument in favor of the significance of professional support in that occupation (Norcross et al., 2008).
Strengths, Limitations and Future Directions
So far, the focus of existing research has focused on the positive (wellbeing) and negative (burnout) aspects of therapists' functioning. This review adds to the literature concerning these issues. Additionally, this brings awareness to the need for implementing education about self-care practices in psychotherapy training programs. These suggestions also extend to current psychotherapists that have already completed their initial training in the profession. Psychotherapists can benefit from maintaining their wellbeing and taking action to decrease risk for burnout. This can also positively affect their clients.
This systematic review is not free of limitations, which should be delineated along with recommendations for potential future research regarding burnout and wellbeing among psychotherapists. First, we excluded studies that were conducted in languages other than English and/or qualitative research, which could be a valuable source of information related to psychotherapists' mental functioning. In the future, it would be interesting to review qualitative studies on psychological functioning among psychotherapists. Burnout is a global phenomenon, thus, future research should include non-English papers, as well.
Second, while preparing this review, we faced several problems related to the operationalization and measurement of burnout and wellbeing. More specifically, the burnout measures were inconsistent across the included studies; some employed the three scales of burnout (see MBI), while other studies only included statistics based on the global burnout score. The Maslach model and the MBI tool dominated most of the reviewed studies, although this model has been the subject of widespread criticism (Demerouti et al., 2001). In the context of this review, one should underline that the use of MBI cutoff values to screen “cases” of burnout is very problematic, as it may be an insufficient way to diagnose the prevalence of burnout in various samples. Another important criticism concerns the fact that the MBI subscales all contain only one-directional items, which may lead to the artificial clustering of factors (Halbesleben and Demerouti, 2005). Analog problems arose related to measures of psychological wellbeing; we found a large variety of measurements and models of this theoretical construct. Furthermore, there was also a high diversity in burnout and wellbeing predictors. The aforementioned two factors make it highly difficult to summarize these findings in the form of a meta-analysis. Future studies should employ a more unitary operationalization and measurement of burnout and/or wellbeing in this specific sample. Regarding burnout, different models from the Maslach model should be more widely accounted for to avoid the criticism of a lack of theoretically driven research in the burnout field (Demerouti et al., 2001). New insights into the Job Demands–Resources theory may point researchers in a promising direction regarding combating these shortcomings (Bakker and de Vries, 2021).
Third, about 95% of the reviewed studies utilized a cross-sectional design. Thus, no cause-and-effect conclusions can be drawn. Further research should also include more longitudinal studies to examine long-term relationships between burnout and wellbeing and their predictors among psychotherapists. This issue is especially crucial in this profession and its outcomes, with it usually being a long-term process (Norcross et al., 2008).
Fourth, the reviewed studies consisted of heterogeneous groups of psychotherapists, representing not only different therapeutic modalities, but sometimes also those outside of the pure psychotherapeutic occupation. This is related to the fact that the psychotherapeutic occupation may be represented by several occupational groups, as different regulations for the psychotherapeutic profession exist in various countries. In the future, it would be wise to focus on more homogeneous samples of psychotherapists; for example, researchers could compare whether and how different psychotherapy modalities differ concerning psychological functioning (Rzeszutek and Schier, 2014).
Finally, more research should be conducted regarding psychotherapists' wellbeing, as we have noticed that there were almost three times more studies concerning the negative aspects of psychotherapists' functioning compared to research focusing on how to maintain high wellbeing and quality of life in this professional group (Laverdière et al., 2018). Studies have shown that clients often choose to attend therapy with psychotherapists who are perceived as psychologically stable and seem satisfied with their personal lives (Wogan and Norcross, 1985; Lambert and Barley, 2001). Low quality of life among psychotherapists can potentially deteriorate therapeutic alliances with clients as well as the entire therapeutic process (Enochs and Etzbach, 2004; Holmqvist and Jeanneau, 2006).
Conclusions
Our systematic review suggests that burnout and wellbeing among psychotherapists may largely depend on sociodemographic (e.g., age, gender), intrapersonal (e.g. coping, personality), and work-related characteristics, including work settings and professional support in this profession (e.g., supervision or personal therapy). However, future research is required, particularly studies that adopt more advanced methodological models and burnout/wellbeing operationalizations and assessments (Lee et al., 2019). Numerous studies use various definitions of burnout and wellbeing. It would be beneficial to find universal definitions of the terms in order to address the vast discrepancies in existing research (Simionato and Simpson, 2018).
From a clinical perspective, the overall problem of psychological health among mental health workers remains largely understudied. This topic is not only important for psychotherapists, but also for the clients who receive their help, as well as for the entire psychotherapeutic process. Thus, it is recommended that training programs for psychotherapists, within various therapeutic modalities, should include a greater focus on self-care behaviors among psychotherapists, to teach them to better manage their work-related distress and enhance their professional quality of life (McCormack et al., 2018). Further, current psychotherapists should continue to seek support within the profession as well as outside, in order to maintain their wellbeing and decrease the risk of experiencing burnout.
Data Availability Statement
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
Author Contributions
AV and MR contributed to conception and design of the study, performed the statistical analysis, and wrote sections of the manuscript. AV organized the database and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Both authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.
Funding
This project has received funding from the New Ideas of POB V project implemented within the scope of the Excellence Initiative - Research University Program (Number PSP: 501-D125-20-5004310).
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher's Note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Keywords: burnout, wellbeing, distress, psychotherapy, systematic review
Citation: Van Hoy A and Rzeszutek M (2022) Burnout and Psychological Wellbeing Among Psychotherapists: A Systematic Review. Front. Psychol. 13:928191. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928191
Received: 25 April 2022; Accepted: 23 June 2022;
Published: 15 August 2022.
Edited by:
Abanoub Riad, Masaryk University, CzechiaReviewed by:
Yi Huang, Masaryk University, CzechiaSalmi Razali, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Naeem Hayat, University Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia
Copyright © 2022 Van Hoy and Rzeszutek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Angelika Van Hoy, angelikahoun@psych.uw.edu.pl