Victorians called burnout ‘overwork’ – and they cured it by holidaying in France

Victorians called burnout ‘overwork’ – and they cured it by holidaying in France

The Beach at Trouville by Claude Monet (1870). The National Gallery, LondonBurnout feels like a thoroughly modern concept – one borne from our age of global digital communication and long office hours. But the Victorians also had an idea of burnout, one they termed “overwork”. The Victorian doctor, C.H.F. Routh, for example, published On Overwork and Premature Mental Decay: Its Treatment, which ran to four editions between 1873 and 1888. Althoug…