Parental Burnout

In modern society all parents are exposed to an overload of responsibilities and activities related to caring for their children, with varying degrees of repercussion on individual and family well-being, which can be understood as parental stress. This condition has caused several emotional and physical changes whose repercussions have now come to be identified as parental burnout. This new condition can be understood as a chronic state characterized by intense physical and emotional exhaustion related to caring for children, associated with a gradual emotional distancing among family members, in addition to the loss of pleasure and reduced sense of fulfillment and effectiveness in exercising the parental. Parental burnout is caused by a chronic imbalance between overload and satisfaction, which is reflected in the lack of resources necessary to deal with stress related to the role of parents and caregivers. This article, written in the form of a narrative review, presents characteristics related to burnout, highlighting triggering factors, the repercussions on parents, children, and family and its consequences, complemented by the main current proposals for individual and family treatment.