Some Promising New Burnout Interventions
Key Takeaways
- Burnout in healthcare professionals is driven by systemic barriers and moral injuries, necessitating leadership with solutions.
- Professional coaching and mindfulness interventions have shown efficacy in reducing burnout among physicians and nurses, respectively.
Explore innovative solutions to combat burnout in health care, including coaching, psychedelics, and addressing administrative harm for lasting change.
PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS
The relative lack of recent attention on health care professional burnout, even as it continues at epidemic rates, suggests that we have either normalized it or given up on substantial intervention.
And no wonder. The strongest cause has to do with systems that block us from healing anywhere close to the best we can, and those business systems show no signs of changing and improving.1 Now, a rising prevalence of moral injuries are joining the burnout. Burnout has also by now spread to other businesses, and even parenting.
That is why in my last column on choosing our leaders, I wrote:
“We need leaders with solutions for our epidemic rates of burnout and moral injuries.”
And I repeat the need. Nevertheless, it may still be worthwhile to pursue smaller and more specific changes in the meanwhile. These 3 just happened to serendipitously recently come to my attention.
Coaching for Burnout
In a recent study out of London, researchers, using controlled trials, found that professional coaching alleviated some of the burnout among physicians, such as emotional exhaustion.2 Among nurses, mindfulness-based interventions were more helpful. This suggests that different medical professionals may respond better to different interventions.
Psychedelics for Burnout
Psilocybin has been legalized for use in licensed centers in Oregon since 2020. One of them, the Cora Center, was the site of a psychedelic trial for Jewish professionals, who have been developing increased burnout.3 Perhaps that is not surprising given the rise in anti-Semitism and the war in Gaza. Recognizing the importance of set and setting in using psychedelics, this retreat incorporated Jewish tradition. Many experienced profound spiritual revelations, including encountering a personified feminine version of God, deeper prayer, and increased resilience.
Administrative Harm and Burnout
Though strictly theoretical for now, how to reduce “administrative harm” calls for an evidence-based approach.4 This would be an application of the Hippocratic oath to do no physician harm to individual patients to do no administrative harm to caregivers. In Hippocrates’ day, there were no systems of care like we have now. Such an approach needs to be more sophisticated and include systems science, quality improvement, and occupational health. Traditional system measures of productivity and financial considerations need reassessment. Artificial intelligence (AI) may be of help here.
Concluding Thoughts
As we need to continue to explore how to improve our systems of care, creatively looking for some other help in the meanwhile is necessary to avoid the increasing institutionalizing of burnout. Coaching and psychedelics (especially where they are legal) seem promising. AI may eventually be able to process all the system components that are causing burnout and moral injury, revealing other ways to improve the systems without prohibitive cost increases.
Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.
References
1. Moffic HS. The Ethical Way: Challenges & Solutions for Managed Behavioral Healthcare. Jossey-Bass; 1997.
2. Collett G, Gupta J, Eltayeb A, et al.
3. Deitcher J. Shefa launches psychedelic retreat for Jewish professionals. eJP Your Daily Phil. December 4, 2025. Accessed December 8, 2025.
4. Burden M, Derby L.
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