Gay men’s lived experience of recovery from burnout: a critical narrative analysis

What is it like to experience burnout as a gay man? Burnout, often seen as a professional crisis, intersects with the unique stressors faced by gay men, creating a complex and deeply personal experience. While existing research largely focuses on burnout as a generalised occupational phenomenon, less attention is paid to how it is experienced by marginalised communities, particularly gay men, whose lives are shaped by distinct biopsychosocial stressors and societal expectations. This intersection of professional exhaustion and minority stress makes burnout for gay men an embodied experience, one that extends beyond the workplace into broader aspects of identity and resilience.

This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of burnout among gay men through semi-structured interviews with eight UK-based participants who have personally experienced this phenomenon. Using Critical Narrative Analysis (CNA), the study delves into their personal narratives, investigating how their stories reveal, not only the hardships of burnout, but also the resilience and recovery strategies they employ.

The findings reveal a multidimensional experience: participants spoke of identity struggles, internalised stigma, and the pressure of societal expectations, while also identifying moments of strength, recovery, and the reassertion of personal and professional identity. Burnout, in this context, is not just a crisis of professional exhaustion but also an opportunity for reconstructing identity and resilience.

This dissertation critically analyses these narratives, contributing to our understanding of how burnout manifests in marginalised communities and highlighting the need for a more nuanced, inclusive approach in the study of mental health and resilience. The study concludes by offering implications for counselling psychology, advocating for greater awareness and support for gay men navigating the intersection of burnout and identity.