Am I Burnt Out or Depressed? Understanding the Key Differences
Professionals today face chronic stress despite the multitude of technological advancements they are equipped with. This stress was found to lead to mental and emotional exhaustion that quickly intensifies to such high levels that its victims cannot differentiate between depression or burnout. Though both conditions can impair your performance at work and your overall well-being, they each require different types of interventions to be treated.
Burnout: An Occupational Syndrome
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition. According to WHO, burnout is caused by prolonged exposure to chronic workplace stress which malforms three key dimensions of well-being: emotional exhaustion, reduced sense of personal accomplishment, and depersonalization.
Emotional exhaustion is the lack of energy and the feeling of being emotionally drained and unattached to what you once felt determined to fulfill. A reduced sense of personal accomplishment is a negative self-assessment of your performance at work. Lastly, depersonalization creates detachment from your job altogether. Note that all of these mental and emotional reactions are confined to work-related activities that eventually lead to interpersonal and emotional stress. The end result is the sensation of feeling cynical, ineffective, and drained from your work and in your role.
The causes of burnout are typically rooted in the work environment. When committing yourself to demanding job expectations, undergoing a lack of autonomy, having to balance insufficient resources, or even compromising with a mismatch between an employee’s values and the organization’s goals. All those commitments take energy and attention away from you and your passion for your work to the degree that a gradual burnout develops: emotional fatigue, irritability, and reduced motivation toward professional tasks.
Burnout is a syndrome. We know that some of its contributing factors such as workload and workplace culture, but the mechanisms behind how and why it happens are still misunderstood. The condition mainly impacts your professional life, and can dissipate over time on its own with time away from work or even with company changes.
1. WHO, Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases, May 2019
2. Maslach, C. Burnout: A multidimensional perspective. In Professional Burnout, 1st ed.; Routledge: Abingdon, UK, 1993.
3. Demerouti, E.; Bakker, A.B.; Nachreiner, F.; Schaufeli, W.B. The job demands-resources model of burnout. J. Appl. Psychol. 2001, 86, 499–512,
4. American Psychological Association (APA), “Employers need to focus on workplace burnout: Here's why” May 2023
Depression: A Clinical Illness
By contrast to burnout, depression is a clinical condition with a specific diagnostic criterion, and causes and treatments that can be quantified, studied, and understood. This mental illness affects all facets of life and can be caused by various factors at all stages life—it is not just work-related causes like in burnout. These can be anything from a genetic predisposition to imbalances in brain chemistry, chronic illness, trauma, or even a prolonged version of burnout. Unlike burnout, however, depression’s effects do not only impact your job, but also your relationships, hobbies, and overall life satisfaction.
Depression encompasses persistent feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed, that eventually become psychosomatic. You undergo physical symptoms of insomnia, parabolic energy patterns, alterations in your appetite, and even emotional challenges that you cannot root down. By 2023, approximately three out of ten adults were diagnosed with depression (29% of the population), with another 18% still currently experiencing it. When the condition goes unaddressed, victims would need medication, lifestyle interventions, and even psychotherapy.
Melancholic versus Non-Melancholic versus Atypical Depression
There are different variants of depression that can be worsened by burnout. Melancholic depression has a genetic basis. People who are diagnosed with this form of depression tend to show symptoms of non-reactive moods, energy loss, ‘foggy’ concentration, loss of appetite, episodes of lost vitality, and terminal insomnia such as waking up persistently at the same early morning hour every day. Whereas depression can generally be partially treated with “talking” therapies, melancholia does not respond well to any exogenic factors, and can only be treated with anti-depressants.
On the other hand, non-melancholic depression is correlated with acute or chronic stressors that show up “out of the blue.” One of the first signs is the person’s diminished self-worth, mood that worsens throughout the day, an appetite disturbance where the individual gains weight, and general but temporary pleasure gained from their usual activities. This form of depression was also associated with personality styles such as anxiety, shyness, sensitivity to judgment, and an intrinsic low sense of self-worth. Unlike the melancholia, “talking” therapies work better for people diagnosed with this type of depression.
Key Differences and Overlap
While both burnout and depression share similar symptoms like fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and reduced motivation, they are distinct in scope and severity. Burnout is typically restricted to work-related stress and has a chance to be alleviated over time with
5. Laub Erica, “Burnout Vs. Depression: Understanding the Differences”, Choosing Therapy, March 2024
6. American Psychological Association (APA) via Psychiatry.org, “What is depression”
7. Gallup 2023, “U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs” via: https://news.gallup.com/poll/505745/depression-rates-reach-new-highs.aspx
organizational changes or time away from work. There is a distinct emotional detachment solely from your job-related tasks which make you cynical about your assignments and your role within a company. On the other hand, depression is pervasive to the degree that it impacts all facets of your personal life and requires medical attention to be addressed. The key indicator for the latter is noting a loss of joy in non-work-related activities and feeling hopeless across all dimensions of well-being. There is a broader emotional withdrawal from life itself, and all components related to relationships, hobbies, work, appetite, sleep, etc.
A better way to envision the differences between depression and burnout is by using the following table:
Table 1 – Features Assisting Differentiation of the Two Principal Depressive ‘Types’ from Burnout
| Feature | Melancholic Depression | Non-melancholic Depression | Burnout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family history of depression | Very strong (60%–90%) | Slight (20%–40%) | Unknown, but likely to be < 20% |
| Precipitant | There could be an initial stressor but there are episodic and unpredictable outbursts. Rarely work-related. | Episodes are always triggered by a stressor that impacts the person’s self-esteem. | Excessive work |
| Predisposing personality style | Not over-represented | Anxious, worriers, low self-worth, socially avoidant, sensitive to judgment, short fuse | Diligent, reliable, dutiful workers; Type A personality at higher risk |
| Severity of depression | Severe with no expectation of relief | Moderate to severe | No depressive symptoms |
| Primary symptom | Hopelessness and minimal self-worth levels. | Some level of hopelessness | Exhaustion and helplessness |
| Level of functioning | Severely compromised—cannot work or work is impaired | Mild to moderate—work can lift mood | Mild to severe impairment—either stops work altogether or pushes through it |
| Suicidal risk | Moderate | Slight | Rare |
| Energy levels | Lack of energy | Not usually affected, but if so, it’s due to low mood | Affected depending on the degree of exhaustion. |
| Mood and energy variation | Mood and energy are low in the morning | Mood worsens through the day | No clear variation |
| Cognitive impairment | ‘Foggy’ thinking | Poor concentration, lots of distracting thoughts, worry | Memory, retention, and concentration are compromised |
As noted in the table above, burnout, melancholic and non-melancholic depression appear similar on the surface with their symptoms of low mood and cognitive difficulties, but the causes of all three are different and each requires a different intervention. Burnout specifically is strongly correlated with workplace or professional settings that cause chronic stress. There is no sense of hopelessness and has no mood disorders associated with it; it’s an inexplicable sensation of fatigue. On the other hand, melancholic and non-melancholic depression are associated with mood and have either biological or psychosocial factors involved. They’re not impacted by work but the stressors that can amplify the negative effects of depression can impact the self-presentation and self-view of the individual such as their self-esteem or worth. Whereas burnout needs time away from work and distancing oneself from the stressors that lead to such immense exhaustion, depression needs clinical and pharmaceutical intervention.
Seeking the Right Help
One of the first steps to recovery for either condition is recognizing which you are diagnosed with. If your symptoms are limited to just work but you still find joy coming home, seeing your loved ones, and participating in your usual hobbies, chances are that you are dealing with burnout. This can be resolved by managing a work-life balance routine, taking time off work, and learning stress management techniques. In contrast, if you are feeling hopeless across all areas of your life—professional and personal alike—you may be dealing with depression. This can only be resolved with the assistance of a medical professional who recognizes and can treat depression.
To recapitulate, burnout and depression are distinct yet interrelated conditions. The former is a workplace syndrome with identifiable stressors, while the latter is a clinical illness with broader causes and more serious implications. It is only by understanding and addressing the differences between the two that you can take the right steps toward managing either.
Aksinia Müller is a human resources expert, executive coach, and doctoral candidate at Bocconi University. She leads public seminars and corporate training programs on Human-Sustainable Leadership, Workplace Wellbeing, and Resilient Teams at the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS). Her current research focuses on workplace wellbeing, exploring areas such as mindfulness, the experience of boredom at work, resilience and the prevalent issue of professional burnout.