The following comments cover some of the negative aspects of a burn out, again distilled from several respondents.

What Hindered My Recovery

In some cases there may be an issue that precipitates a burn out. 
This might be a wrong belief about something seen as vital, an accusation a disciplinary event or some form of enduring conflict that finally comes to a head. 

Here are some anonymous contributions from people who had been through a burn out concerning the things that hindered their recovery. The blue headlines are mine and the text is theirs.  I have trimmed comments right back to allow the reader to consider ways to counter act these. I’ve used italics if the text has been heavily edited. 

A burn out provides the opportunity to reflect on your own role and on what you used to believe.  If you see a burn out as something that was imposed upon you and you had no control then you may have accepted the role of victim. 

If you see your burn out as having happened because of the way you interact with the world then you may have accepted responsibility.  Of course to some extent both positions are possible at the same time.  The more influence you have over ‘you’ the better.

The Environment

A Toxic Environment

Quotation from some one who experienced a burn out:

I personally believe that sending stressed people home is nonsense.  It's like sending a diabetic home "to get better"

A culture of scapegoating. Anyone being scapegoated was avoided rather than supported.  A Toxic Environment –An existing pattern of toxic ideas and behaviours within the work place, poor definition of boundaries, poor relationships and toxic clients.  Safety valve processes under used denied or closed off.

Workload Demands & Low Resource

Unreasonably huge workload & being told we were "fully staffed" and "should" be fine. 

Poor Emotional Support

Unclear boundaries around support:   Poor or non existent sensitive support.  Support only at a transactional level only – all or most emotional content avoided.

Feeling Unsupported

Lack of management support for me

Too Much Control

A lack of freedom on breaks and how we could spend our time. 

No Quiet Time

Not able to concentrate:  Shared office with a manager / others. 

Not Being Valued
Not being treated as valued, but still having a lot of demands on us.  Expected to do additional unpaid, unrewarded unrecognised work.  Feeling like a number not a person.

Punitive rather than supportive response to stress.  

Not valuing individuals' skills if they didn't match the manager's skills.  

Manager / others pretending to share the stress, / work load but not actually doing so
No voice.

My complaints or concerns being brushed aside. 

Being asked to do things that were unethical, unprofessional or bad practice.  

If I questioned my boss or refused to do something, I was threatened with disciplinary action.
A feeling that higher management support prevailing management at all costs.
Launching a grievance didn't seem like an option.

Out of the Loop and a Feeling That You’re Letting Customers Down

During my time off work I was haunted by the things that were left unresolved.  I was particularly disturbed about not being able to keep promises made to clients.   

A serious breach of confidentiality:

Humour Removed

Agreed comfortable work boundaries not agreed upon.
New boss believed that humour was unprofessional, so we shouldn't joke in front of a client.  So humour effectively was banned, and interactions became po-faced.

During Recovery

Lack of Contact
In terms of supporting others who are suffering form burn out, there's something about keeping them in the loop.  (Perhaps as you would with someone on maternity leave?)  Formal phone calls are good, and it would be positive to encourage informal phone calls as well.

After Recovery

Lack of Closure

I wasn't allowed to return to work to say goodbye.

Lack of Contact post issue

No one official to talk to once my disciplinary hearings were over and the charges dismissed.   When the horror was over, but so was the support. 

Blocking Closure.  Little Things Count

I had some personal possessions at work.  There were all sorts of delays and excuses about getting these returned to me.  I felt as if they were still holding a piece of me at work, which made it harder to move on.

Poorly considered re-entry to work: 

No one asked me what I thought could help smooth my way back into work.

Being asked to share an office with someone who had who was central to a disciplinary complaint. This complaint was seen as a major precipitating factor in a burn out 

All of the complaints were disproved.
 

Lack of apology.  I never got an apology or a proper acknowledgement of all that the organisation had put me through.  I wanted someone in a position of authority to say formally, “We're sorry.  We're taking steps to ensure it never happens to anyone else." I got a whacking great pay off in exchange for not suing, but the document was cagey about why.   [Editor: for a variety of reasons it is probably unrealistic to expect an organisation to formally say sorry.  Managing your own expectations and interpretations of what happens is possibly more valuable]

Poor Stress Management Ideas

Editors Note 

This particular story suggests managers were addressing symptoms rather than looking for root causes and changes in process and style that would lead to better behaviours and higher levels of productivity with lower levels of stress.

One burn out respondents story:

One of my coaching clients was burning out. 
As more and more colleagues (from our service organisation) went off sick with stress, she was left with more and more work.  The organisation was fully aware of the stress she and her colleagues were under.  They paid for her to have coaching, but did nothing to reduce her tremendous workload.  She finally buckled under the stress, and shouted at someone.  (Management) "couldn't" reduce her workload, but apparently, they could afford to have her off sick and they could afford to have the HR dept busily processing a disciplinary case against her.

If there are no treatment interventions, then the person is unlikely to get better nearly as fast as if they were getting some form of treatment.  The isolation, perceived ostracisation and loss of structure to the day can do more harm than good.  

On one occasion when I was burning out, a client was violent towards me. (Detail withheld) There's something here that's applicable to all kinds of work environment, about the importance of someone to talk to after a stressful situation or incident.  Merely getting away from the situation physically is not enough.  We need to debrief and detox.