(upbeat music)
- [Presenter] Hi Psych2Goers,
and welcome back to another video.
Thank you so much for all the love and support
you've given us,
enabling us to make yet another exploration
into everyday psychology and mental health.
So let's begin.
Chronic fatigue, difficulty concentrating,
difficulty sleeping, frequent lapses in memory
and emotional exhaustion.
Now, does this sound like someone experiencing burnout
or are they suffering from clinical depression?
More often than not, these two are confused.
Burnout refers to a negative state of emotional,
physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive stress
and an inability to cope.
While depression is defined as a mood disorder
characterized by persistent feelings of sadness,
emptiness, and hopelessness.
Because there's so much overlap
between symptoms of burnout and depression,
it can often be a challenge to tell the two apart.
Mistaking one for the other could lead to a lot of harm,
especially when trying to treat it.
Before we begin,
please remember that our purpose is to educate,
therefore, please do not use this information
to self-diagnose.
With that said,
here's seven important differences
between burnout and depression.
One, depression is a mental disorder.
Although burnout is a serious mental health issue,
unlike clinical depression,
it isn't recognized as a diagnosable mental disorder
by the American Psychological Association.
This is because it lacks what psychologists call
the four D's of abnormality.
Deviance, dysfunction, distress and danger,
which are all the hallmarks for a psychiatric condition
to be considered a mental illness.
And though burnout certainly in pairs are functioning
and brings us a lot of distress,
it's not as serious of a threat to our mental health
as depression.
What's more is burnout only has three identifiable symptoms,
exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficiency.
While you only need to have experienced
at least five out of nine
for a period of no less than two weeks
to be diagnosed with depression.
Two, depression is more general.
Does it help get your mind off your problems
when someone tries to cheer you up?
This may work for burnout, but not for depression.
Depression is more general than burnout
because burnout is brought about by prolonged periods
of extreme stress, usually work or academic related,
the negative psychological effects
we experienced because of it often go away
once the stressor has been removed.
Depression on the other hand is so much more pervasive
because it permeates not only our school or work life,
but also our social life, our home life,
and even our enjoyment of our own hobbies and interests.
Three, depression doesn't always have a trigger.
So what triggers burnout then you ask?
Like we said before,
burnout is most likely to happen at the onset
of highly stressful situations.
Often in the school or work setting.
Common examples include studying for final exams,
getting into a prestigious college
or a big promotion at work.
But when it comes to depression,
there isn't always an obvious trigger
for why you develop it.
Four, depression erodes your self esteem.
What is the one characteristic only found in depression?
It is a lower sense of self-esteem.
Many depressed patients
struggle with feelings of worthlessness.
All sense of purpose seems lost.
Those who are burned out on the other hand,
feel the same loss in motivation, enjoyment, and interest,
but their sense of self-esteem remains largely intact.
And though you may sometimes feel frustrated,
disappointed, or down about yourself,
it's usually only a particular stressor
causing you to feel this way.
For example, hating yourself only because you failed a test.
Five, depersonalization is common in burnout.
Depersonalization is a persistent feeling of detachment
from oneself.
This occurs because people who are struggling with burnout
have pushed themselves to the limit,
physically, mentally, and emotionally,
that it's now become difficult to function normally.
You've been working yourself so hard for so long,
treating yourself more like an unstoppable machine
for productivity,
rather than an actual human being with needs
that you start to lose touch with yourself.
You don't feel like yourself anymore,
becoming numb to emotions
because of how overwhelmed you've been with stress.
Six, burnout develops in stages.
Did you know there are five major stages of burnout?
Studies named them in an increasing degrees of severity
as the honeymoon phase, the onset of stress,
chronic stress, burnout, and habitual burnout.
But when it comes to depression, there are no stages,
because depression doesn't develop
in a linear or progressive manner.
Some people can have a depressive episode
that only lasts a few weeks,
is fine for years and suddenly feel depressed again
out of the blue, while others struggle with it
for almost their entire lives,
seemingly getting better only for it to get worse
all over again.
Seven, burnout is easier to treat.
Finally, but perhaps most importantly,
because burnout isn't a mental disorder,
it's much easier to treat than depression.
For problems of burnout,
a therapist or a counselor
will advise you a few simple lifestyle changes
like sleeping earlier, starting a self-care routine,
establishing boundaries
and learning better time management skills.
And you'll start seeing improvements
within a matter of weeks,
depending on the severity of your burnout.
As for depression,
common treatment plans include not only lifestyle changes,
but also antidepressants, cognitive therapy,
behavioral therapy, and psychodynamic therapy.
We hope we were able to give you a little insight
into some of the ways depression differs from burnout.
Do any of these apply to you?
Let us know in the comments below.
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As always, thanks for watching.