Burnout vs Clinical Depression in Professionals
Burnout is a type of stress involving physical and mental fatigue. It can be connected with someone’s job conditions, personal life, or a combination of the two. While burnout shares some symptoms with depression and may increase the risk of this type of mental illness, the two conditions are different.[1]
As this article will explore, depression isn’t necessarily caused by external sources of stress, but burnout arises from multiple stressors happening at the same time.[2] Plus, poor mental health can affect both job performance and enjoyment, and a lack of support for mental health at work can worsen symptoms.[3]
If you’re concerned about depression or burnout in yourself or an employee, professional mental health support is advised. Trained clinicians can advise about the right forms of support to put in place and help ease the burden of both internal and external issues.
This article can also help by equipping professionals to understand workplace burnout and depression by exploring:
- The differences between burnout and depression
- Signs of burnout and depression at work
- Types of treatment for these conditions
- How employers can support burnout and depression in the workplace
Burnout vs Clinical Depression
Burnout and depression have some similarities, which can make it difficult to distinguish between them. However, there are some clear differences in their symptoms and causes, and understanding these can be essential for professionals and employers wanting to support mental health at work. The following sections outline the differences in causes between these two conditions.
Burnout and Its Causes
Burnout is a state of stress in which someone is worn out emotionally, physically, or both. It might cause someone to feel empty, powerless, or useless. It isn’t a medical diagnosis, but it is a recognized state that can arise from job stress.[1]
You might be at greater risk of burnout if you have a heavy workload, long hours, or if you work in a helping profession. There are several possible causes of burnout, including:[1]
- Having too much or too little to do
- A lack of work/life balance
- A lack of support from others
- Conflict at work or in personal relationships
- A lack of clarity or control over job expectations
Clinical Depression and Its Causes
Depression is a mood disorder involving persistent feelings of sadness and disinterest. For instance, you might feel hugely sad, empty, and irritable. You might also experience both physical and cognitive symptoms that impact your ability to function as you would like to in daily life.[4]
For example, depression can involve sleep disturbances, reduced pleasure or interest in activities that you used to enjoy, thoughts of guilt or worthlessness, and changes in concentration and appetite. You might also experience suicidal thoughts.[4]
Clinical depression has both genetic and environmental causes. Some of these causes include:[4], [5]
- Neurotransmitter activity in the brain
- Structural brain differences
- Hormonal dysregulation
- Inflammation
- Sunlight exposure
- Unemployment
- Bereavement
- Trauma and abuse
- Relationship difficulties
- Loneliness
Burnout vs Depression Differences
Burnout and depression are commonly confused and can be difficult to separate because of their overlapping symptoms. Here are some similarities and differences to be aware of:[2]
Burnout vs Depression Similarities:
- Burnout and depression can disrupt appetite and sleep
- Both can cause difficulties with concentration, worry, and rumination
- Both involve low physical energy and decreased engagement with pleasurable activities
Burnout vs Depression Differences:
- While burnout might cause thoughts of ending stressful circumstances (such as a job), depression can cause thoughts of suicide
- Burnout can cause indifference towards pleasurable activities. In contrast, people with depression can experience a total lack of pleasure (known as “anhedonia”)
- While burnout can cause emotions of irritability and powerlessness, people with depression often feel immense guilt, shame, and sadness
One way to tell the difference between stress exhaustion vs depression is the way it connects with your circumstances. Burnout is always caused by tangible stressful life factors in your environment, such as conflict at home or a heavy job workload. By comparison, depression isn’t limited to certain parts of your life; it can be felt in every part of your life, and there isn’t always an obvious cause.[2]
Can Burnout Become Depression?
Yes. Burnout can increase the risk of developing depression if it isn’t properly treated and persists for a long time.[6]
While those with burnout can recover by taking some time off work and reducing their responsibilities, this isn’t always feasible.[6] Long-term chronic stress can become a negative cycle whereby symptoms aren’t managed and become gradually worse. Plus, when burnout becomes depression, a different treatment will likely become necessary.
Before we explore those treatment options, we’ll first discuss burnout and depression caused by work stress, and how these conditions show up at work.
Signs of Burnout vs Clinical Depression in the Workplace
Both workplace burnout and clinical depression can involve decreased work enjoyment and performance. The signs of depression and professional burnout in the workplace can be difficult to differentiate from the outside, especially without talking to the person you’re concerned about.
Signs of both burnout and depression in the workplace might include:[1], [7]
- Difficulties focusing at work
- Turning up to work late, leaving early, or missing full days
- Finding little satisfaction or value in one’s efforts
- Feeling unmotivated or bored at work
- Doubting skills and abilities
- Completing projects late or to a lower quality than normal
- Losing patience with co-workers, customers, or clients
- Physical health complaints without a clear cause, such as stomach aches
- Thinking or talking about finding another job
Without speaking to the person you’re worried about, it will be difficult to determine whether they’re feeling depressed or burnt out. For example, they might be experiencing suicidal thoughts and keeping them a secret. Recognizing emotional distress, even when you don’t know exactly what it is, is the first step in being supportive.[3]
The next step is to find out more about what the person’s experiencing. When doing so, it’s a good idea to invite them for a private meeting and ask. Asking open questions from a caring point of view and gently querying about what support they feel they might need keeps your involvement from being imposing or judgmental. Let’s explore this further next.
Treatment for Burnout vs Depression
There are several options for treating burnout and depression, which employers should be made aware of. Although it’s not your job to make healthcare decisions for an employee or determine whether they have major depressive disorder or burnout, you can be there to talk through options.
Some options include:
Taking Time Off
With time off being an essential way to recover, taking sick or vacation leave is a common treatment for burnout.6 People who are burnt out can also make efforts to improve their sleep and take up activities for physical relaxation, such as yoga. Plus, seeking social support is a must for unburdening your emotional load and feeling supported by others.[1]
Those with depression might want to take time off work if their symptoms are preventing them from functioning as they’d like to in daily life. However, nurturing work environments can be a positive influence on well-being, particularly if you’re engaging in psychotherapy, making lifestyle changes, and/or taking medication.[3]
So, staying at work could be important for some to stay connected to a community, feel a sense of meaning and reward, and have a structured routine.[3] Whether or not time off is necessary should be a decision made by the person with depression. A middle-ground could be reducing responsibilities, flexible hours, or working remotely.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT may be an effective treatment for both burnout and depression. In CBT, therapists are interested in how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact to create and maintain poor mental health.
For people with burnout, CBT might connect thoughts of perfectionism (for example, I must perform excellently at work at all times) with the behavior of overworking. This might be a way someone has learned to avoid feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth.
Alternatively, thoughts like I’ll never complete my workload may create feelings of frustration and powerlessness, leading to a withdrawal from responsibilities.[2]
Tackling these will typically take a cognitive approach because the thoughts are driving unhelpful behaviors. Further, for people with depression, CBT therapists may address unhelpful thoughts, but they may also lean towards a behavioral approach. This can involve interventions like behavioral activation (engaging with pleasurable activities) or graded tasks (breaking activities into manageable steps).
Counseling and Psychotherapy
While CBT is a highly practical approach, other talking therapies are informed by many different approaches. For example, humanistic, psychodynamic, or narrative therapy. These types don’t assign homework like CBT; instead, you’ll spend an hour (or more) per week talking about your life and experiences.
Counseling and psychotherapy are effective treatments for depression.[5] They help people explore how past experiences, core beliefs, and significant relationships might contribute to their current symptoms.
Plus, some employees might prefer telehealth for therapy as it’s highly flexible and accessible.
Medication for Depression
A key difference in treatment for burnout vs depression is that medication is often a key component of depression treatment. There is a wide variety of medication for depression, with common prescriptions including SSRIs, SNRIs, and atypical antidepressants.[4]
However, medication is unlikely to be a component of burnout treatment, unless there are co-occurring mental health conditions that call for it.
How Can Employers Support Burnout and Clinical Depression?
While work can be a positive influence on well-being, it can also be a negative influence on mental health. Though employers can make some changes to support employee mental health, it’s sometimes necessary to refer staff to formal therapeutic support.[3]
If you’re worried about employees who are burnt out or experiencing depression, here are a few ways you can be supportive:
Reduce Workplace Mental Health Risks
The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies several workplace factors that can create or worsen poor mental health. Understanding what these are can be a significant step towards creating a supportive workplace environment. They include:[3]
- Excessive workloads or work pace
- Underusing employee skills and poor investment in career development
- Long or inflexible hours
- Limited support from supervisors
- Harassment, bullying, discrimination, violence, and exclusion
- Unclear job roles
- Inadequate pay and job insecurity
Implement Training for Responding to Distress and Crisis
Ensuring that managers, supervisors, or HR staff can respond to employees in distress and crisis sensitively and appropriately is key to fostering a supportive workplace. Mental health training can help managers recognize distress, develop interpersonal skills, and understand proper procedures.[3]
Make Reasonable Accommodations and Ensure Return-to-Work Planning
Reasonable accommodations must be made for employees whose mental health condition qualifies them for disability support. However, many who meet these criteria may not have formal documentation. Making adjustments to job roles or conditions should be manageable for you, and also be low-cost.[3], [8]
These adjustments might include flexible working hours, remote working, or allowing food at someone’s work station to alleviate the side effects of medication.[3], [8]
In addition, if someone has taken mental health leave for burnout or depression, return-to-work plans can support their reintegration. This might involve temporary accommodations to support a gradual return or agreeing to regular check-ins.[3]
Refer to Treatment
In-house support may not be sufficient if the employee’s work stress has escalated into a more serious set of symptoms. When job stress develops into an anxiety disorder or depression, it’s a good idea to consider formal clinical support.
Although it’s up to the employee to make a self-referral, employers and managers can support this process. As mentioned above, by understanding the depression and burnout recovery treatment options available, you can have an informed conversation about someone’s next steps.
Depending on your organization, therapy for workplace burnout could be delivered via telehealth or through an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Alternatively, it could be an outpatient service that provides open-ended in-person therapy.
Mission Connection: Evidence-Based Support for Burnout and Depression
At Mission Connection, we offer therapeutic and psychiatric treatment for burnt out professionals, as well as for those with depression and other mental health conditions. With one of our licensed professionals, you can engage in psychotherapy, medication management, or get a clinical diagnosis of burnout or depression.
Contact us today to discuss your treatment, explore our facilities, or take a self-test to learn more about your symptoms.
