Impaired cognitive performance and responsiveness to reward in burnout patients: Two years later

Relatively little is known about the course of symptoms in patients suffering from burnout and even less about the status of their cognitive functioning. We followed 40 burnout patients and 40 healthy controls who had participated in a previous study on the effect of motivational interventions on cognitive performance in an experimental task and repeated these measurements two years later (T2). The burnout patients, who had received psychological treatment, showed substantial improvement regarding burnout symptoms and cognitive performance at T2. The pre-post-effect size for symptom reduction was large. Importantly, cognitive performance and responsiveness to motivational interventions improved to normal levels. The patients no longer fulfilled the criteria for burnout or any other psychiatric disorder. Despite these improvements, burnout patients still experienced more exhaustion, general fatigue, depressive symptoms and general distress in comparison to healthy controls and compared to normed groups. The same pattern was observed with regard to cognitive performance: performance improved but remained below normal levels. Perceived job competence, involvement in work and responsiveness to rewards had returned to normal levels. The results indicate that although recovery from burnout is possible, symptoms may persist over the long term (here, two years). This should be taken into consideration by employers.