Empirical studies exploring the relationship between burnout and creativity are very rare. In the present study, a well-defined group of clinical burnout patients (n = 75) and two groups of working people showing high (n = 39) vs. low burnout symptoms (n = 62) were investigated. Participants completed various creativity tests including self-assessed facets of creativity, as well as psychometric measures of figural and verbal creativity. Furthermore, we examined individual and clinical characteristics that may influence creativity in burnout patients, such as depression, sleep quality, daytime fatigue, and cognitive measures (i.e., selective attention and executive control). The clinical burnout group scored lowest in all creativity tasks and cognitive tests. Additionally, they showed lower nighttime sleep quality and higher depression scores. However, creativity scores in both groups of working people were largely comparable, indicating that only more severe (i.e., clinical) manifestations of burnout are linked to creativity.
Keywords: burnout; cognition; creativity; depression; sleep quality.