Authors
Gisele Kitayama, Federico Gerardo de Cosio
Published in
Frontiers in public health. Volume 14. Pages 1881851. Epub Oct 09, 2026.
Abstract
This article argues that the persistent burden of burnout reflects a fundamental conceptual problem-burnout continues to be framed primarily as an individual condition rather than as an occupational phenomenon shaped by interacting structural, organizational, and leadership conditions. Burnout has emerged as a major occupational health challenge. In a 2024 survey across eight predominantly high and upper-middle-income countries, 48% of respondents reported currently grappling with burnout. Separately, depression and anxiety cost the global economy approximately one trillion dollars annually in lost productivity. Drawing on evidence from neuroimaging, stress biology, cognitive neuroscience, and organizational research, this article examines plausible pathways through which leadership behavior may influence conditions that contribute to or protect against burnout, including social threat-reward processing, cognitive flexibility, emotional intelligence, psychological safety, emotional contagion, and stress-related neurobiological responses. Among physicians, burnout has been associated with depression and anxiety, while evidence regarding substance abuse is less consistent. These proposed mechanisms are proximal and potentially modifiable, but operate within broader structural conditions that constrain or enable their effects. Human-centered work design and neuroleadership-informed leadership practices are proposed as complements to broader structural interventions, with implications for health systems, workforce sustainability, and policy design.
PMID:
42920658
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 24 Oct 2026.
Read full publication at:
Please sign in
to see all details.
Advertisement
Stats
- Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
- Views 23
- Comments 0