Burnout Test: How Run Down Are You Right Now?
This free burnout test is short and private. Statements about your work, studies or caring give you three scores: exhaustion, detachment and doubt about your effectiveness, the three parts researchers use to describe burnout. It is a starting point, not a diagnosis, and you can retake it to see your own change.
Take the burnout test
12 statements. Free, no sign-up, and your answers stay private. Read "work" as your job, studies or caring, and answer for the last few weeks.
Burnout is what can happen when demands stay high for a long time and there is too little rest or support. Researchers often describe it as three things together: exhaustion, a growing distance from the work or the people involved (detachment, sometimes called cynicism), and a drop in how effective you feel.
Answer for your work or whatever takes most of your effort lately: a job, studies, or caring for someone. Go with your first reaction, and answer for the last few weeks rather than your worst day. There are no right answers and nothing here is compared with anyone else.
What it measures
- Exhaustion. A higher score means you tend to feel drained, and rest does not seem to restore you. A lower score means you tend to have energy left at the end of the day.
- Detachment. A higher score means you tend to feel distant from your work or the people around it, or less interested in it. A lower score means you tend to stay interested in and connected to what you do.
- Doubt about your effectiveness. A higher score means you tend to doubt how capable you are, or how well what you do goes. A lower score means you tend to feel capable and effective at what you do.
What the results mean
Several signs of burnout
Your exhaustion and detachment scores both sit on the higher side. Together they are the core of what researchers describe as burnout: running on empty while pulling away from the work or the people involved. That is not a verdict on you, and it often says more about the load than about your character.
Rest on its own is not always enough when the load stays the same. Small changes to what you carry, and support from people around you, tend to matter most.
Tired and doubting yourself
Your exhaustion and doubt scores both sit on the higher side. When you are this drained it is easy to feel less capable, and feeling less capable makes everything cost more. It does not mean you are failing; it often means you have been running on too little for too long.
Tired, but still engaged
Your exhaustion score sits on the higher side, and your detachment score on the lower side. You still care about what you do, but you are running low on energy. For some people detachment can follow, so it is a good moment to act.
Detached and doubting yourself
Your detachment and doubt scores both sit on the higher side. Losing interest and doubting how capable you are often go together, and they can also be part of low mood. It is worth paying attention to how long this has lasted and whether it reaches beyond work.
Detached, not drained
Your detachment score sits on the higher side, and your exhaustion score on the lower side. You have energy, but less interest in or connection to the work or the people around it. That can come from boredom, a mismatch with what matters to you, or a long period of strain, and it is worth looking at which.
Doubting your effectiveness
Your exhaustion and detachment scores are on the lower side, but you are doubting how capable you are. That feeling often comes from missing feedback, an unclear role or a harsh inner critic, and not necessarily from how you are really doing.
Your answers lean low on all three
None of your three scores leans high right now. That is a snapshot, not a promise, and it is not the whole picture of how you feel. If you still feel unwell, trust that over this score and talk to a GP.
Keeping an eye on rest and on the load you carry helps, because burnout can build slowly.
Questions
Is this burnout test a diagnosis?
No. It is a short self-reflection tool that gives a starting point. The World Health Organization describes burn-out as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition, and exhaustion can also be part of depression, anxiety or a physical illness, so a doctor is the right person to check.
How does this relate to the Maslach Burnout Inventory?
The Maslach Burnout Inventory is a licensed questionnaire used by professionals. These statements were written for this site to look at the same three areas, and they cannot replace a proper assessment.
What is the difference between burnout and being tired or stressed?
Ordinary tiredness usually eases with rest. Burnout is more persistent, and it tends to come with detachment and self-doubt as well as exhaustion. If you are unsure which it is, the three scores here are a place to start.
Is it burnout or depression?
Burnout is linked to work or a role you carry. Depression tends to reach into all of life: low mood or loss of interest in most things, most days, for two weeks or more. If that sounds like you, talk to a GP. If you have thoughts of harming yourself, please use the helplines on this page now. Helplines and finding support
Does it apply if I do not have a paid job?
The World Health Organization definition is about work, but the same three signs can show up with studying or caring for someone, so the statements still apply. Read "work" as whatever takes most of your effort lately.
Who can see my answers?
Your answers are saved in your own browser. If you have a free account, they also sync to it so you can see them on other devices. They are not shown to anyone else and are not compared with other people's.
Sources
The three parts follow Maslach and Leiter's research on burnout and the World Health Organization's description of burn-out as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition. Some other measures focus on exhaustion alone. The statements here were written for this site, and this is not a clinical test.
- Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103-111.
- Kristensen, T. S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, K. B. (2005). The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress, 19(3), 192-207.
- World Health Organization. International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11), QD85 Burn-out.
This isn't therapy, and a result here is a starting point, not a diagnosis.