Some interesting thoughts from Heydon on burnout, why it's a positive thing that we're talking about it more, and what a major root cause is for many people:

Burnout is what Marx called alienation. It's when a worker becomes estranged from their work. It sounds like a big, grand thing, but it happens every day, in small ways. As a web designer or developer burnout comes calling when you try to do good work, but you're not allowed.