The Clinica Holistica Engiadina, bottom, a center for the treatment of stress related issues is seen in the village of Susch, near Davos. Photographer: Peter Frommenwiler/Bloomberg

(Corrects cost of treatment in video report.) Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Tim Chilcott reports on a clinic near Davos, Switzerland, where burned out executives can seek refuge from stresses wrought by overwork and exhaustion. (Source: Bloomberg)

Clinic staff are seen practicing in the therapy pool at the Clinica Holistica Engiadina, a center for the treatment of stress related issues in the village of Susch, near Davos. Photographer: Peter Frommenwiler/Bloomberg

Doris Straus, the medical director of the clinic. Photographer: Peter Frommenwiler/Bloomberg

Mattias Bulfoni, chairman of the Clinica Holistica Engiadina. Photographer: Peter Frommenwiler/Bloomberg

The World Economic Forum has atroubled twin down the road from Davos where burned-outexecutives seek refuge in a clinic with all the trappings ofThomas Mann’s “Magic Mountain.”

“Most of our patients come here in pretty poor shape,”said Mattias Bulfoni, who runs Clinica Holistica Engiadina, 20kilometers (12 miles) from Davos. “Some of them aren’t evenable to drive a car any more, most of them have a sleepingdisorder. some take drugs or have alcohol problems.”

Almost one century after Mann created the story of HansCastorp’s visit to a Davos sanatorium, the world’s wealthycontinue to beat a path to the snow-bound peaks of easternSwitzerland. while most attendees at this year’s World EconomicForum will be addressing “Shared Norms for the New Reality,”the conference does acknowledge the dangers of sleepdeprivation.

Burnout is “the massive exhaustion after years of overworkand frustration,” said Doris Straus, the medical director atClinica Holistica. the symptoms are an “inability toconcentrate, to sleep, to make decisions, to have a social lifeand to switch off after work,” she said.

In the village of Susch, patients spend as much as 800francs ($832) a day to learn relaxation techniques as they walkthrough the surrounding forests and mountains and get massages.

One patient, a Swiss pharmaceutical executive, said sherealized it was time to check herself in when she threw a tempertantrum at her boss. the 60-year-old executive, who spoke oncondition of anonymity, plans to return to work and ask for moreclearly-defined responsibilities to avoid another breakdown.

She is the latest dropout to visit Clinica Holistica. InMann’s 1924 novel, Castorp, the scion of a Hamburg merchantfamily, travels to the resort to visit his sick cousin. He meetsmembers of the European ruling class oblivious to signs of thecoming world war that would destroy it.

Davos participants will attend sessions this year entitled“The Science of Mastering Emotions” and “Burnout — TheLatest Fashion?” the panels will address whether “the strongsuffer from burnout, while the weak suffer from depression.”

For some bankers, the emotional fallout from the 2008financial collapse continues even after Barclays Plc ChiefExecutive Officer Robert Diamond said this month that the“period of remorse and apology” is over.

‘Bigger Workload’

“The pressure on bankers increased,” said Straus, sittingin her study where modern metallic furniture contrasts Swisspine ceiling and paneling from 1618. “Not only because of thebigger workload, it’s also the fear to lose the job and the lossof reputation because of banker bashing.”

Treatments at the Holistica, which has room for 41patients, include psychological counseling, sleep analysis orQigong, a Chinese workout and relaxation technique. Longer-termclients typically stay between two and six weeks.

In Susch, there are few cars and there is no buzz. Internetand mobile phone usage is discouraged in the clinic, and therooms don’t have TV.

In the past 11 years, the number of sick days because ofpsychological diseases increased 91 percent in Germany, withdepression and burnout cited as being the most frequent reasons,according to Werner Kissling of Technische UniversitaetMuenchen’s Centre of Disease Management. “Among the 150companies we have advised in the last three years, there werearound 30 large German banks.”

Booz & co., a consulting company that looked at the world’stop 2,500 listed companies, suggests that stress is taking itstoll on senior executives. the average tenure of a global chiefexecutive officer has dropped to 6.3 years from 8.1 years overthe past decade, according to the study published in May. Chiefexecutives are being “asked to do more, faster,” Booz said.

Jeffrey B. Kindler, the former CEO of drugmaker PfizerInc., said in December when he resigned that he needed to“recharge” his batteries after a “period extremely demandingon me personally.”

The Swiss pharmaceutical executive, who is approaching theend of a three-week stay, said she came because she is afflictedby insomnia and she can’t sit still and read a book.

People in senior positions who have high expectations arethe most at risk of suffering from burnout syndrome, accordingto psychiatrist Straus. “Other reasons are a lack ofrecognition and reward as well as not being able to controlone’s schedule. You feel endlessly pushed,” said Straus. “Youdon’t determine your projects, they determine you.”

The exhaustion leads patients to question the meaning oflife and leaves them wonder what to do.

“People tended to gloss over that and say they’re justtired,” said Heinz Schuepbach, a psychologist at the Universityof Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland in Olten, who willbe in Davos. “Today, they tell the doctor that they just can’thandle it anymore,” and they “get exhausted in a treadmill.”

To contact the reporter on this story:Klaus Wille in Zurich at

To contact the editor responsible for this story:Craig Stirling at