Burnout is really just a form of depression that strongly relates to work. It can be mild, possibly in an early stage (see: most, not all, of the comments here

Burnout is really just a form of depression that strongly relates to work. It can be mild, possibly in an early stage (see: most, not all, of the comments here). Or it can be severe and have acute symptoms. And the connection between those is gradual. Severe examples would be things like extreme tiredness, such that you can just fall asleep after a few minutes of work, sudden fear/anxiety/stress attacks, severely decreased stamina and cognitive ability, overly sensitive/overblown reactions to any kind of stress factor, complete shut down of your system, blackouts/fainting etc. If you have full-blown burnout, then just doing a bit of exercise and a long holiday won't cut it. It's as if your whole body and mind will do everything to stop you from working, because going on like before is impossible. It can pin you down, leaving you unable to act without support. It might take years to recover from it, just like other forms of depression. It's very good that people are aware of this and discuss possible early/mild symptoms. However do _not_ downplay the severity of its potential. An issue here is that it seems to hit some of the most productive and hardworking people the hardest, possibly because they power through the early symptoms for so long until they shut down.