Mental Health and Burnout Among Healthcare Practitioners: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Healthcare practitioners face an occupational environment that places sustained demands on emotional, cognitive, and physical resources, and a growing body of evidence links this environment to elevated rates of burnout, depression, anxiety, and, in the most severe cases, suicidal ideation. This narrative review synthesizes contemporary literature on the mental health consequences of burnout among physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals, examining the conceptual relationship between burnout and clinical mental illness, the individual and organizational risk factors that shape practitioner wellbeing, the barriers that prevent healthcare workers from seeking help, and the evidence base for individual- and system-level interventions. The review further proposes an original conceptual model, the MEND Framework, which organizes practitioner mental health strategy around four domains — Monitoring, Early intervention, Networked support, and Destigmatization — intended to help healthcare institutions move from reactive crisis response toward proactive mental health protection. The discussion is situated within Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 healthcare transformation agenda and the regulatory infrastructure administered by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS), the Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions (CBAHI), the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), the Nphies platform, the Mumaris+ licensing system, and the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC). The review concludes with recommendations for practice, policy, and future research