Feeling burned out? This study says you may be experiencing depression

Colin Schwager, MBA
Teknik
Published in
2 min readJun 2, 2020

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Man covers his face with his palm, seemingly distressed.

In a new study published by the Medical University of South Carolina, researchers found that “burnout” may be more linked to depression than previously thought.

In an article published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers look at the link between burnout and depressive symptoms in medical interns.

Authored by Constance Guille, M.D., and Lisa Rotenstein, M.D., among others, the article helped correct long-held misconceptions about burnout and depression and their relationship to one another.

“There is a long-standing thought that burnout is associated with workplace factors and that depressive symptoms are associated with workplace factors but also heavily influenced by personal factors,” said Rotenstein. “We found that the factors that drive burnout are much more closely related to the factors that drive depressive symptoms than previously realized.”

The study, which surveyed 1,552 medical interns entering residency programs about depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion, among other contributing factors.

The study found significant overlap between factors that contribute to depressive symptoms and burnout. The results of this study suggest that assessing for depressive symptoms during instances of burnout may have validation.

The researchers also make note that interventions to address burnout may be effective in addressing depressive symptoms and the other way around.

“Previous to this work, depression and burnout were conceptualized as separate entities with different factors contributing to these outcomes,” said Guille. “This work suggests there is substantial overlap between both workplace and personal factors that contribute to an increase in both depressive symptoms and burnout.”

This study opens the door to further research into the correlation between depression and burnout and which contributing factors are shared between the common conditions.

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Colin Schwager, MBA
Teknik

Hi, I’m Colin and I am a copywriting and marketing expert. Author of “It’s Okay” and soon to be announced “30 Days In The Wilderness: A Men’s Devotional”