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Differences between depression and burnout (part 3 of 3)

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 part 3 of 3  Christina Maslach, who led the contemporary charge at burnout, said it had many presentations but in her view had 3 defining characteristics.  These were exhaustion, cynicism, and loss of efficacy.  (Efficacy by itself might be vague, but I think of it as a lost ability, not just felt by the one losing it, but also noticed by others.)  There are parallels between these 3 defining criteria and the multiple criteria of depression.  Difficulty concentrating, or changes in appetite or sleep, or psychomotor agitation or retardation, have a parallel in the loss of efficacy.  Perhaps concentration, and efficacy, are not so different.  And exhaustion and fatigue, if they were steps of gray, must be dark light gray and light dark gray, on a continuum even if not the same color.   But “feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt,” seem to me quite different from cynicism.  Not explicit in the above definition o...

Differences between depression and burnout (part 2 of 3)

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 part 2 of 3 Much was made of the World Health Organization's including  burnout  in the eleventh edition of the International Classification of Diseases.  “Intrinsic demands of the job, individual susceptibility, and poor work organization contributes to increased stress in health workers.”  Then, the consequences: “chronic fatigue, absenteeism, high staff turnover, reduced patient satisfaction, and increased diagnosis and treatment errors.”  What's remarkable is some consequences of burnout fall those with the burnout, while other consequences fall upon the organizations, or those the organizations serve.  The nurse is burnt-out, but it's the patient who is less satisfied.  It is a little like saying that COVID-19 causes cough, weakness, back pain, absenteeism, plus fatigue in others.  One difference then is that a depression can be described in a single person without reference to any organization; but burnout as we understand it can only ...

Differences between depression and burnout (part 1 of 3)

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Jill Lepore's far-ranging New Yorker article, “ Burnout: Human Affliction or Human Condition ” (published 17 May 2021) was able to trace back a burnout-like affliction to the Iliad .  At least under Robert Fagles's pen, translating in 1990, Achilles (book I, line 343) said that if he were to obey Agamemnon, he would be called a “burnt-out coward.” Lepore acknowledged this may be a modern mouth speaking for an ancient warrior.   But what about Helen, who says (book 6, line 409)                                    Oh how I wish      that first day my mother brought me into the light       some black whirlwind had rushed me out to the mountains       or into the surf where the roaring breakers and drag     and the waves had swept me off before all this had happened! Is that still burnout, or are we now closer to what ...