Burnout has become a word people use for a bad week. That is part of why it goes unrecognised when it is real: by the time someone says "I think I'm burnt out," everyone around them has said it too, about a deadline.

This test uses the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory — one of the few burnout scales that is free to use, validated in research, and not tied to a licence. It takes about five minutes.

One thing before you start: burnout is not a medical diagnosis. The World Health Organization classifies it as an occupational phenomenon — something that happens to people in a situation, not a disease you carry. That distinction matters for what you do with the result.

Part 1. Personal burnout

How often do the following apply to you?

Score each answer:

4 — always

3 — often

2 — sometimes

1 — seldom

0 — never or almost never

1. How often do you feel tired?

2. How often are you physically exhausted?

3. How often are you emotionally exhausted?

4. How often do you think "I can't take it anymore"?

5. How often do you feel worn out?

6. How often do you feel weak and susceptible to illness?

Add your scores and divide by 6, then multiply by 25. That gives a score from 0 to 100.

Same scoring. Answer about your work specifically.

1. Do you feel worn out at the end of the working day?

2. Are you exhausted in the morning at the thought of another day at work?

3. Do you feel that every working hour is tiring for you?

4. Do you have enough energy for family and friends during leisure time?

5. Is your work emotionally exhausting?

6. Does your work frustrate you?

7. Do you feel burnt out because of your work?

Question 4 is reverse-scored: if you answered "always" give yourself 0, "often" 1, "sometimes" 2, "seldom" 3, "never" 4.

Add, divide by 7, multiply by 25.

What the scores mean

Below 50 — low.

Ordinary fluctuation. Tiredness that rest resolves. Nothing here needs fixing.

50 to 74 — moderate.

This is the range where most people first notice something is wrong and most also ignore it. Recovery is still straightforward at this level, and it is the cheapest place to intervene: reduce load, protect sleep, take a real break. Left alone, this range tends to drift upwards rather than settle.

75 to 99 — high.

Sustained exhaustion that rest no longer resolves. At this level the arrangement itself usually has to change — hours, control over the work, or the role. Time off helps and does not fix it: returning to unchanged conditions reproduces the state within weeks.

100 — severe.

Every answer at the top of the scale. This warrants professional attention rather than another attempt at self-management.

Reading the two parts together. If work-related burnout is clearly higher than personal, the source is the job, and that is the more workable case. If personal burnout is high while work is moderate, look at what else is consuming you — caregiving, illness in the family, a long-running private strain. If both are high and nothing gives relief, see the section below.

The distinction this test cannot make

A high score tells you the exhaustion is real. It does not tell you whether it is burnout or depression, and that difference decides what to do next.

Burnout is bounded. It attaches to a domain — usually work. Step fully outside it and something lifts, even briefly. A weekend away is genuinely better; Friday evening feels different from Sunday night.

Depression travels. It is present on holiday, with friends, on a free day with no obligations. Nothing that used to work produces relief.

If nothing in your life provides that relief, this test has done its job by telling you the exhaustion is real, and the next step is a doctor rather than a lighter schedule.

What helps, by score

Moderate range. Protect sleep first — it is the input everything else depends on. Cut one commitment rather than trying to do all of them more efficiently. Take a break long enough to be boring; two days is a pause, not a recovery.

High range. Rest alone will not do it. Something structural has to change: the volume of work, your control over how it is done, or the fairness of what you get back for it. If none of those can change, the honest question is about the arrangement rather than about you.

Any range, if guilt is loud. Burnout in people who care about their work is usually maintained by the belief that stopping is letting someone down. That belief is worth examining directly, because no schedule change survives it.

When to see a professional

  • exhaustion has lasted more than three months with no relief;
  • you cannot maintain basic functioning — eating, sleeping, getting to work;
  • you have started using alcohol or substances to get through the day;
  • there are physical symptoms your doctor has not explained;
  • you feel nothing rather than tired — flat, blank, indifferent to things you cared about;
  • there are thoughts of self-harm, or that others would be better off without you.

The last item is a reason to contact a professional or emergency service today.

The short version

The Copenhagen scale measures how depleted you are and where the depletion is coming from. What it cannot tell you is whether rest will fix it. That answer comes from a simpler question: is there any part of your life where the exhaustion lifts? If yes, the conditions are the problem. If no, it is worth getting assessed.