"Most students begin the fall semester with a sense of hope and enthusiasm," Ducey adds. "It is around the time of 'hourlies' or midterms that students may begin to experience the uneasy sense that things are going badly wrong."
Winter holidays follow soon after this period, but these festivities are not the time of rest they are billed as.
"By the time of Thanksgiving, when students often face the sometimes less-than-desirable prospect of going home for the holidays, the phenomena of burnout begin to become manifest," Ducey says. "The weeks between Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are often the most critical period for students' recognition that their fall semester feels dangerously out of control."
Ducey writes that just the time when students feel the most pressure to buckle down, they are also most prone to give up.
Burnout cases are less prevalent in the spring semester according to Ducey.
"Perhaps the burnout casualties of the fall semester remove a significant proportion of potential burnout victims from the spring semester," he writes. "Yet the rhythms of the spring are similar to those of the fall: sticking one's head in the sand early leads to the disaster of the experience of burnout later in the semester."
Ducey writes that the single most important method of preventing burnout is self-awareness.
"The difficulty is that in college one is often only beginning to define oneself for the first time, separate from family, friends, teachers, etc., and a student is not yet clear what matters to him or her as a unique individual," Ducey writes.
Students need to draw a fine line between seeking parental and peer guidance, and being overwhelmed by their influence. According to Ducey, it is as simple as coming to know themselves better.
But while some people find it within themselves to solve their problems, others have no choice but to obtain professional help.
Failure in the process of self-definition--which is central to the college experience--makes burnout inevitable and indicates that the process has failed.
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Ducey even suggests that students use the Bureau of Study Counsel when they first begin to feel symptoms of burnout so that it never reaches its full-blown stage. The Bureau, he says, can help them with the process of self-definition.
As preventative measures, the Bureau's peer tutoring, the Course in Reading and Study Strategies, the time management workshops and other programs can also help students keep academics in perspective and handle their workload.
In terms of directly dealing with mental wellness, the Bureau offers personal counseling and individual psychotherapy.
Ducey also recommends the Mental Health Service of University Health Services (MHS) as a resource to help students deal with crises and ongoing stresses in their lives.
"It is the act of seeking and receiving help, whether from the Bureau or MHS, that counteracts the development of burnout in students," Ducey writes.