How Is Depression Different From Burnout?
Depression is a physical illness. Burnout is an emotional fatigue triggered by ongoing and severe stress. Burnout can definitely lead to depression, though, so it's important to pay attention to it.
Burnout is caused by demands that continue day after day, often without a clear end in sight. This leads to feelings of being not only overworked but also unappreciated. As demands continue, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, along with a loss of motivation, can result. The person feels overwhelmed, worn out, and more and more unhappy and detached from others. That's why caregivers are so vulnerable to burnout.
Burnout is more likely when you're not getting a great deal of social support, when you're worried about someone else's safety (or your own), and when there's confusion and conflict about how the work at hand should best be done.
Unlike someone who's depressed, someone who's burned out can still experience pleasure if he or she is taken out of the stressful situation. (A hallmark symptom of depression is the inability to feel any pleasure.) But if the factors causing burnout continue without relief, this stress can trigger depression.
Best advice I've heard in a long time! Very important for caregivers to pay attention to. Thank you for such a succinct article about the difference between the two, and how burnout WILL lead to depression if ignored! Thank you!
What is depression
Thanks I needed that info.
I thank you too. I am sitting in that boat right now. To top it off my eldest son is now fighting cancer and facing amputation of his left leg. I am disabled and fighting yet another round of Lymphedema and cellulitis. Not easy and sometimes I would love to crawl into a hole and let someone else take the reins. Unfortunately, I am an only child and a single mother. Thanks for posting this. I definately needed to see it. Sorry if I rambled on.
I definitely am at burn-out city. My brother is going to take her to his home for one month. My husband and I need it desperately!!! I love my mom very much, but as you said day in and out. And she has again fallen , this time 2 times in one week. I feel so helpless. She doesn't think she needs the walker sometimes, and then forgets it, or just can't see well, no sight in right eye, and left eye is also beginning macular degeneration and glucoma. And she won't do walking to keep strength up, and not eating very well also. I just take a day at a time, do the best I can, and PRAY for strength, and patience. Moderate dementia is getting worse also, and with hearing aids, still trouble. And draws into herself. I can't remember, she'd say. Lord, Help us all as we face these trials.
