Professional alcohol workers (alcohologists) are an essential part of the health care system in their efforts to deliver services to the alcohol abuser. Since alcohologists are involved in a high human-contact stress occupation they can be subject to burnout. Alcohologist burnout reflects a stress model in the following areas: (1) in the institutional area the alcoholic is offered fragmentary service, limited continuity of care, severely lacking specialized services, unrealistic outcomes, and conflicting objectives; (2) in the area of others, the recovering alcoholic involves contact-at-crisis point with extreme dependent need with the most complicated disease affecting a person at all levels; and (3) in regard to the self, a continual assessment of who one is and one's relationship with others, institutions, and a power greater than self. Alcohologists can and will go through burnout. For alcohologists the phases of the burnout model include: loss of personal center; negative attitude; omnipotence; and fragmentation. Burnout is a natural path of growth for alcohologists. An awareness and understanding of the positive dynamics of burnout can provide the space, nurturance, and enriching agents necessary to navigate through the process. An experience of the positive dynamics of burnout can allow alcohologists to gain a deeper sense of themselves. Attitudinal and procedural factors can effect an alcohologist's working through the burnout condition. (ABL)