"In general, in life, when you are a man, you know not to show your emotions. We are supposed to be solid", testifies to AFP Melvin, 26, who has no wanted to give his last name.

Business creator in events ("not the right vein at the moment"), he "doubled down" on his second activity, computer development, to finance his business creation and... cracked.

"Stuck", unable to "read a line of code", or even "get out of bed".

Women are "more affected by burnout", indicates psychiatrist Patrick Légeron, co-author of a report on the subject for the Academy of Medicine in 2016. The reasons?

Professions that are more factors of exhaustion and the management of domestic life.

"The double penalty", underlines the doctor, who consults at the psychiatric hospital Saint-Anne in Paris.

But "men have much more difficulty" than women, when burnout sets in, "to recognize these signs for themselves".

They are sometimes "in denial" and "less likely to seek help".

When burnout sets in, men are sometimes "in denial" and "less inclined to seek help", according to psychiatrist Patrick Légeron Loic VENANCE AFP/Archives

"Women find it easier to express their emotions. This is not linked to gender characteristics but to socio-cultural characteristics since the man must be courageous and not show signs of weakness", says the psychiatrist.

It's "+ the John Wayne syndrome +: the one who receives an arrow and takes it away saying + not even badly! +".

"For a man, to admit that + there, we are a little weak +, that does not correspond to the image that we expect of him", declares Baptiste Herlin, 44, victim of a burn out in 2008, even if he assures him that he has "no trouble communicating".

Assistant manager in a clothing store in Paris, he accumulates hours, integrates a store in a trendy district of the capital.

And then "suddenly, for me who had always been keen to do well, the consequences no longer mattered".

One "Tuesday", he still remembers, he can no longer get up.

"Problem of masculinity"

In a contribution to the American daily New York Times, the ex-teacher Jonathan Malesic says (from his own experience): "When men encounter difficulties, at work or elsewhere, they are less likely to talk about it", in public or private.

“We are still in a society where men seek to prove their masculinity through their skills at work,” he adds in an article titled “How men burn out”.

"We are still in a society where men seek to prove their masculinity through their skills at work", writes ex-teacher Jonathan Malesic in an article for the American daily New York Times ALAIN JOCARD AFP / Archives

"Without falling into sexist clichés, there is often this issue of virility with men, where women will more easily accept" what can be perceived as "a failure", notes Théo, 24, who has gone through a burnout a year ago.

This burnout is described by the WHO as "a syndrome (...) resulting from chronic work stress that has not been successfully managed".

It comes with a form of distance (managing things like robots) and a loss of professional efficiency.

With the pandemic, the firm Empreinte Humaine, specializing in the prevention of psychosocial risks, measured in the fall "almost three times more" burn out compared to the start of the crisis, explains to AFP its president Christophe Nguyen.

A recent survey showed women "more exhausted than men" but also managers (rather men) more exhausted and more often in burnout, says Mr. Nguyen.

According to Mr. Légeron, "about two-thirds of burnouts are linked to working conditions and one-third to personality", with people overinvesting in their work, a trait more common among men and which "weakens them".

This is what happened to Damien Dallais, 39, who had worked for eight years in a company specializing in biomedical.

He gains in responsibility, the intensity of the work increases, "I no longer slept at night, I thought of working night and day, weekends and holidays included".

"My body gave up, I spent two months in bed, I was a wreck."

© 2022 AFP