Burnout must be considered as symptomatic of a serious event in a person's life--a mid-life crisis, as it is widely termed. Numerous writings point out that during a period of life, roughly between the ages of 30 and 55, many people reach a crisis brought on by the realization that everyone's career, status, and life are measurable and limited. One explanation for why professionals have a career crisis during this period is based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs as it relates to research on teacher satisfaction. This hypothesis speculates that, during the middle of their careers, teachers' commitment to the profession outstrips their sense of satisfaction from life and work. Research seems to indicate that this conflict is a normal, developmental, and probably predictable stage in adult development. A second hypothesis holds that crises develop as people pass through developmental stages. Mid-life crises occur, then, because a constellation of basic and fundamental biological, psychosocial, and social themes and developmental tasks merge at that time. Existing research, particularly that done in school settings, provides greater support for the satisfaction-commitment conflict hypothesis. (Author/IRT)