Saying "I took a break due to stress or other mental issues" isn't semi-honest - it's simply true. Personally, I think it's still worth avoiding. It's similar

Saying "I took a break due to stress or other mental issues" isn't semi-honest - it's simply true. Personally, I think it's still worth avoiding. It's similar to how, at least in the US, saying "I'll be out next Thursday" is much better than saying "I'll be out next Thursday because I'm feeling burnt out and need to take a breather so I don't lose it." I think it's natural to want to explain yourself. It feels courteous even. But it can often motivate people to form opinions about you that don't benefit you, and are probably not accurate anyways. Consider a scenario where a team member is gone 1 day out of every month. They don't say why, aside from "taking a personal day." Compare that to someone who takes the same amount of time off, but explains the reason for each. "I've been working too hard", "need to take my dog to the vet", "can't work today because I'm barfing", and so on. The "explainer" may be just as productive as the person who doesn't explain, yet, over time, the explainer might end up being perceived as having a lot of "drama", or "frail" or even unreliable. I'm not just imagining that this can happen either. I've seen these kinds of things considered when managers review an employee's performance. The "non-explainer" taking time off is often not even noticed compared to the "explainer". It's unfortunate, and shouldn't matter, but humans are strange creatures.