1. Feelings that they are perpetually under-appreciated.
2. Sensation that work cannot be completed, or completed to satisfaction, without their participation and presence.
3. Finding or expecting slights and insults in interactions with other, often in innocuous circumstances.
4. Chronic complaints about leadership personnel.
5. Cynical or callous comments about other volunteers.
6. Perpetual sense of crisis.
7. Physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion.
8. Overreaction to minor circumstances.
9. Increasing triangulation in communication patterns.
10. Sense that the volunteer activity is now a chore.
Of course there are also physical or psychological experiences on the part of the volunteer that can exacerbate burn-out, ranging from addictive disorder to a lack of parental support in childhood. Volunteers and their supervisors are always urged to be aware of these signs and work to address them directly as burn-out among volunteers can have a rapid morbidity.
[Courtesy of Interfaith Resources]