Occupational medicine
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Burnout is a pervasive health condition affecting many doctors at various stages in their careers. Characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment it can result in significant personal and professional consequences putting patient care at risk. Emotion regulation describes a capacity to self-modulate emotions to achieve desirable emotional outcomes. Emotional intelligence theory suggests that emotion regulation skills facilitate the maintenance of appropriate emotions, reducing or adapting undesirable emotions in oneself and others. Emotion regulation is usually automatic but can be controlled through learnt strategies. There is evidence that occupationally stressed individuals are less capable of down-regulating negative emotions. This paper systematically reviews studies of the role of emotion regulation in burnout in doctors. ⋯ Emotion regulation is an important psychological variable associated with burnout.