This paper reviews, compares, and summarizes writings from 1974 to 1980 which address the concept of burnout. The 48 writings are summarized in a tabular format and presented in chronological order to provide the reader with a sense of trends. The table also includes authors, year of publication, the occupation of the "burned-out" individual, and the definition of burnout used in the writing. Based on an analysis of these definitions of burnout, the paper proposes a new definition encompassing emotional or physical exhaustion, lowered work productivity, and overdepersonalization. The five sources which present statistical analyses relating individual or organizational variables to burnout are reviewed and research methodology issues are posed. The future research section is based on research to date, authors' conversations with researchers and other professionals, and writings in areas such as psychopolitics, client labeling, the interrelationships of clients, care givers, and systems, and causes and prevention of burnout. A model to aid researchers is also provided. (NRB)