Customer Reviews

Before Burnout: Balanced Living for Busy People (Christian living)

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The authors in Before Burnout deal with perfectionistic attitudes and behavior. It is interesting that Minirth and Meier write so much about perfectionism and burnout, when they freely admit that they themselves are perfectionists or obsessive-compulsive. This gives the books a personal touch, however, since they sprinkle personal examples throughout their writings. They describe two kinds of perfectionists: the quality and the quantity characters. Like their former volume, How to Beat Burnout, the biblical Martha gets the bad rap. Unlike the former volume, this one contains no references to sources of information and studies cited. Though this might make for easier reading, the academic might be frustrated, especially when he or she needs more convincing.

Sometimes it appears that the authors characterize just plain Christian spirituality, truth, and accuracy as obsessive-compulsive (OC) (p. 29). Even Moses gets labeled an OC (p. 52). They appear to assume that middle-class values, i.e. people who tend to work long hours, are really OCs (p. 61), and even characterize those with a high need for achievement as OCs (p. 68). Their psychologizing of Calvin's theology (p. 71) reminds me of Erik Erikson's description of Lutheran theology as "anal repulsive." (Luther was sitting on the pot when the doctrine of justification by faith broke through upon him.)

As in the preceding book, idealism, unrealistic expectations, bitterness and forgiveness are primary themes for recovery. Yet some of their recommendations appear awkward. They want their clients to choose friendships that will benefit themselves (p. 134), somewhat reversing Christ's command to love our enemies. And the later chapters of their book appears only loosely tied to OC or perfectionistic behavior.