Is It Burnout or Depression?

"If your social circle is anything like mine, you might have heard this argument too many times: Someone-perhaps uncle Leo-would say, " Burnout is just depression with a laptop." Others would jump in with: "Nonsense. Depression is an illness. Burnout is what happens when work wrings you dry." Then, of course, someone else has to say: "Just get it together and stop complaining." And dessert mood is ruined-especially if just yesterday you were having this very argument with yourself."

"Interestingly, psychologists have been arguing about this for quite some time as well. The Great Burnout Debate On one side, researchers like Renzo Bianchi and Irvin Schonfeld have been suggesting that perhaps burnout is basically job-related depression. They show that many signs overlap: exhaustion, detachment, feeling ineffective. Why create a fuzzy new label, they argue, when we already have a solid one: depression?"

"On the other side, Christina Maslach (who first coined "burnout"), Michael Leiter, Wilmar Schaufeli, and others insist burnout is distinct. Depression, according to this argument, can happen anywhere, but burnout comes from poorly organized or mismanaged tasks, overload, unfairness, unstable schedules, and other work-specific ills. And burnout adds something depression doesn't: cynicism and disengagement specifically tied to work."

Debate centers on whether burnout is distinct from depression or a job-specific form of it. Many symptoms overlap, including exhaustion, detachment, and feelings of ineffectiveness, producing a strong correlation but not complete overlap. One position treats burnout as job-related depression and questions the need for a separate label. The opposing view emphasizes work-specific causes—mismanaged tasks, overload, unfairness, unstable schedules—and adds work-tied cynicism and disengagement as unique features. WHO classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition. Accurate identification between burnout and depression informs appropriate clinical care and workplace remedies.

Read at Psychology Today