Is it Burnout, or is it Depression?
Are Burnout and Depression Two Sides of the Same Coin?
Is burnout the same as depression?
Lots of people don't seem to think so.
Like, the World Health Organization, for example.
According to the WHO, burnout is an "occupational phenomenon," but is not classified as a medical condition.
Per the ICD-11, burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and
reduced professional efficacy.
Even much of the research community is in disagreement about whether these three dimensions comprise their own specific syndrome—that is, burnout—or whether they are symptoms more closely associated with another known condition, such as depression.
We're told that being burnt out isn't the same as being depressed, and so our options for getting help feel more limited. Basically, it's a syndrome that has been given less weight and importance as compared to a condition like Major Depressive Disorder.
We’re told, "just put up more boundaries at work and you'll be fine. Take a vacation. Exercise. Talk to friends and family. Just don't think about it."
But for anyone who has experienced that bone-deep, soul-changing burnout, the difference between that & depression is pretty hard to find.
In fact, according to some research, there is a stronger correlation between the exhaustion dimension of burnout & the symptom of exhaustion in of depression, than there is between exhaustion and the other dimensions of burnout. Per the findings of a meta-analysis of 14 studies, which involved data from “12,417 participants in six countries (France, Finland, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland): The three proposed symptoms of burnout were more closely correlated with depression (.60) than with each other (.51). Exhaustion in particular showed a strong correlation with depression (.80)” (source: PsychologicalScience.org).
Per Bianchi et al, “'Correlations of the magnitudes found here are commonplace among measures deemed to assess the same entity. . . 'Burnout cannot be regarded as a syndrome distinct from depression if its core dimension, exhaustion, correlates more strongly with depression than with its other components.'”
Bianchi et al argue that "incorporating burnout into the clinical concept of depression could help strengthen the legal footing of regulations related to workers’ health while providing clearer avenues for treatment." Doing so would mean that interventions to address burnout would have to address the environment— such as "a workplace’s organizational policies and social environment, which may interact with workers’ dispositions—to effectively provide relief for depression."
The reason this is important is this: If we start seeing burnout for what it likely actually is—that is, job-related depression—we can start rallying for more effective treatments & workplace interventions, rather than simply telling someone to basically suck it up, find a new job, or just “deal with it.”