A few weeks ago it was all over the headlines that what we typically call "burnout" just might be
depression. Beyond the vagueness such wording introduced (another way to push anti-depressants?), the actual research further affirms burnout as a genuine psychological and physical experience.
This second study confirms that those who suffer from job "burnout" also experience the onset of key depression symptoms, something of little surprise to anyone who's ever been through it. Yet, as
an earlier study suggests, burnout is its own animal. Symptoms are largely linked to "atypical" depression, which behaves differently and can more readily suggest situational origins. It's something I've been
saying for years—certain elements of the modern (unmitigated) experience promotes neurosis more than we'd like to admit. Burnout is one common example.
Most people have experienced brief phases of it. Others have unfortunately found themselves in the long-term grip of it. Burnout is that bottomed out sensation of emotional and often bodily exhaustion. We feel wholly knocked down by the unrelenting demands or psychological disorientation of our circumstances. Eventually, we feel we just can't get up again. The result can be a hollowed-out, hopeless, automaton feeling. Some people cry at random. Others shut down. We might still be moving through our duties at home or work, but it's often with a numbness that hovers above a
perpetual anxiety or emptiness.
Still, it's important to understand that we're not talking about "just" a psychological phenomenon here. Burnout, while it's the long-term result of outer circumstances rather than inherent genetic workings, is still very much a physical malady. Primary
symptoms include the aforementioned physical and mental exhaustion but also, commonly speaking, insomnia or sleep disturbances,
slow mental processing, impaired memory, irritability, reduced concentration, impatience, cynicism, unexplained pain or headaches, and
appetite changes. This is no figment of the imagination.
We mostly hear about burnout in terms of work, as in job burnout. That's the case with the aforementioned studies (which followed teachers), but I've seen burnout in people who either don't have standard jobs (e.g. parents who stay home with children) or who do have regular work but whose burnout is clearly rooted in other long-standing factors such as intensive parenting or other caregiving demands, acute health/fitness obsession, chronic marital conflict or family dysfunction.
The primary issues in these cases are basically the same as those noted in job burnout: lack of life balance, dysfunctional dynamics, unclear or unreasonable expectations, inadequate social support, and perceived lack of control.
Comment: The Secret Epidemic of Trapped Emotions