Here’s an interesting NYT feature on burnout, which suggests that burnout is a problem with self-efficacy, a lack of social support, and an increasingly chaotic environment. One of the most interesting studies found that interruptions are as destructive as drug use to IQ:

The uninterrupted group did better by an average of ten points, which wasn’t much of a surprise. What was a surprise is that the e-mailers also did worse, by an average of six points, than a group in a similar study that had been tested while stoned.

One of the effects of lowered IQ is that we get less done. When we accomplish less, we’re frustrated because we wanted to do more. And that frustration is one of the big factors in our burnout.