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> It's not clear to me what is burnout. For me[0] it just happened when I realized that no matter how hard I worked the company I worked for where going to go

> It's not clear to me what is burnout. For me[0] it just happened when I realized that no matter how hard I worked the company I worked for where going to go bankrupt anyway. I started crying anytime I was alone. Sounds that reminded me about problems at work (e.g. a loose drive belt) would instantly give me pain in my stomach. It took months before I could work in customer facing work again. I was lucky, worked at a farm and completed military (draft) in between and little by little things got better. I sometimes feel really exhausted and unmotivated, going to work only because it is a duty (to work and my family) but I never burned out again. [0]: This was before burnouts was a thing so I never got a diagnosis and I only realized later that I hat hit the wall hard.

lawrencewu 11y ago
This sounds like depression, not burnout.
- smonff 11y ago
  Isn't burnout just a "because-of-work" depression? And is it possible to "burnout" of something else than work?
  - yoplait_ 11y ago
    I thought burnout to be caused by stress and exhaustion. Your mind shuts down to protect itself and anything work related triggers heavy anxiety. In that respect burnout is more akin to PTSD than depression.
    - fapjacks 11y ago
      I unfortunately have PTSD from my service in combat, and have previously burned out at work, before my time in the infantry. These two things are not related nor for that matter very much alike. Burnout -- at least, the burnout that I have experienced -- is manageable to some degree, but I could tell you stories about PTSD that don't sound believable.
      - InclinedPlane 11y ago
        Indeed. I've suffered through burnout and recently realized I have PTSD as well (though it's comparatively minor, I didn't realize for the longest time because it was due to childhood emotional trauma not combat or anything like that and I had no clue what the symptoms were or what could cause it). Burnout is a stress disorder, as is PTSD, but trauma is typically not involved. Indeed, the lack of trauma is often why burnout sneaks up on people so easily. At least with PTSD you often have some "big event" that you can track things back to that is something that most people would say "ok, that's something that can be life altering". But you can burnout even if you're working only 20 hours a week at a "fun" job and earning 6 figures a year. Burnout is caused by stress, PTSD is stress and other symptoms caused by trauma. They share some similar symptoms because they both involve stress, but they are not the same. Removing the stress and spending time relaxing usually helps clear up burnout to a substantial degree, but the stress in PTSD is caused by the memory of trauma that happened in the past, and that doesn't go away, it's internal not external. Additionally, PTSD is not only harder to tackle it's also typically more life altering because it has much more severe symptoms (arousal, hypervigilance, constant reliving of the trauma, guilt, being easily startled, etc.)
      - nommm-nommm 11y ago
        Seriously. Comparing burnout to PTSD is inaccurate, insulting, and offensive. Post traumatic stress disorder - trauma. Coding is not trauma and can't be compared to trauma.
        reitanqild 11y ago
        A serious burnout is serious as well. Two issues: 1. it seems lots people mix up burnout with exhaustion or lack of motivation. It is not the same. 2. I'm afraid, and I am not alone to think that people feel like burnout == bragging rights. It is not. It is just painful and unproductive. I now say (tongue-in-cheek, admittedly) that it is far better to keep going at 95-120% for year after year than going all the way to 160 for weeks, meet the wall and needing months to fully recover. Often families and other relationships suffer as well.
        yoplait_ 11y ago
  - whitegrape 11y ago
    For me it was college.
  - reitanqild 11y ago
    For me one of the factors that separates burnout from other forms is the "burn" part. It was the fact that I had worked so hard only to see it fail anyway and people I worked with not caring rather still buy tools while they had already IIRC started looting the place. Another thing: That job was way beyond stressful. At some points two big blokes, one coworker I had though of as a friend together with a friend of him came to "take" me whatever that meant and the way I got away was running for the kitchen, grabbing a knife and place myself in the doorway so nobody could get behind me. Eventually they gave up.
- nathan_f77 11y ago
  I think they are very related.
- kafkaesq 11y ago
  Depression (in this context) would be more perhaps better viewed as part of the family of symptoms of burnout.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

lawrencewu 11y ago

This sounds like depression, not burnout.

smonff 11y ago
Isn't burnout just a "because-of-work" depression? And is it possible to "burnout" of something else than work?
- yoplait_ 11y ago
  I thought burnout to be caused by stress and exhaustion. Your mind shuts down to protect itself and anything work related triggers heavy anxiety. In that respect burnout is more akin to PTSD than depression.
  - fapjacks 11y ago
    I unfortunately have PTSD from my service in combat, and have previously burned out at work, before my time in the infantry. These two things are not related nor for that matter very much alike. Burnout -- at least, the burnout that I have experienced -- is manageable to some degree, but I could tell you stories about PTSD that don't sound believable.
    - InclinedPlane 11y ago
      Indeed. I've suffered through burnout and recently realized I have PTSD as well (though it's comparatively minor, I didn't realize for the longest time because it was due to childhood emotional trauma not combat or anything like that and I had no clue what the symptoms were or what could cause it). Burnout is a stress disorder, as is PTSD, but trauma is typically not involved. Indeed, the lack of trauma is often why burnout sneaks up on people so easily. At least with PTSD you often have some "big event" that you can track things back to that is something that most people would say "ok, that's something that can be life altering". But you can burnout even if you're working only 20 hours a week at a "fun" job and earning 6 figures a year. Burnout is caused by stress, PTSD is stress and other symptoms caused by trauma. They share some similar symptoms because they both involve stress, but they are not the same. Removing the stress and spending time relaxing usually helps clear up burnout to a substantial degree, but the stress in PTSD is caused by the memory of trauma that happened in the past, and that doesn't go away, it's internal not external. Additionally, PTSD is not only harder to tackle it's also typically more life altering because it has much more severe symptoms (arousal, hypervigilance, constant reliving of the trauma, guilt, being easily startled, etc.)
    - nommm-nommm 11y ago
      Seriously. Comparing burnout to PTSD is inaccurate, insulting, and offensive. Post traumatic stress disorder - trauma. Coding is not trauma and can't be compared to trauma.
      - reitanqild 11y ago
        A serious burnout is serious as well. Two issues: 1. it seems lots people mix up burnout with exhaustion or lack of motivation. It is not the same. 2. I'm afraid, and I am not alone to think that people feel like burnout == bragging rights. It is not. It is just painful and unproductive. I now say (tongue-in-cheek, admittedly) that it is far better to keep going at 95-120% for year after year than going all the way to 160 for weeks, meet the wall and needing months to fully recover. Often families and other relationships suffer as well.
      - yoplait_ 11y ago
- whitegrape 11y ago
  For me it was college.
- reitanqild 11y ago
  For me one of the factors that separates burnout from other forms is the "burn" part. It was the fact that I had worked so hard only to see it fail anyway and people I worked with not caring rather still buy tools while they had already IIRC started looting the place. Another thing: That job was way beyond stressful. At some points two big blokes, one coworker I had though of as a friend together with a friend of him came to "take" me whatever that meant and the way I got away was running for the kitchen, grabbing a knife and place myself in the doorway so nobody could get behind me. Eventually they gave up.
nathan_f77 11y ago
I think they are very related.
kafkaesq 11y ago
Depression (in this context) would be more perhaps better viewed as part of the family of symptoms of burnout.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]