Is It Burnout or Depression? How to Tell the Difference
Burnout vs. Depression: How to Tell the Difference
If you’ve been feeling exhausted, unmotivated, or emotionally flat for a while now, you’re not alone. Many high-achieving women I work with tell me the same thing: “I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m tired all the time, but I don’t know if I’m burned out, depressed, or just failing at holding it all together.”
That confusion makes a lot of sense. When you’ve been pushing through demanding seasons for months or years, the lines between burnout and depression can start to blur. And when you’re used to functioning at a high level, it can be especially hard to tell when something deeper is going on.
Let’s slow this down and talk through the differences, the overlap, and what actually matters when you’re trying to understand your mental health.
What Burnout Looks Like
Burnout is usually tied to chronic stress, especially stress that feels relentless or unending. It often shows up in people who care deeply, work hard, and hold themselves to high standards.
Common signs of burnout include:
Emotional exhaustion that doesn’t improve with rest
Feeling detached, numb, or cynical about work or responsibilities
Brain fog, irritability, or difficulty concentrating
A sense of “I have nothing left to give”
Physical symptoms like headaches, tension, or poor sleep
From a nervous system perspective, burnout often reflects being stuck in prolonged survival mode. You’ve been pushing, managing, and performing for so long that your system doesn’t know how to fully shut off or recover.
Burnout is typically situational. It’s closely connected to workload, environment, expectations, or life roles. When the stressors change or support increases, symptoms often improve.
What Depression Looks Like
Depression tends to be broader and more persistent. While it can be triggered by stress, it doesn’t always lift when circumstances improve.
Some common signs include:
Ongoing low mood, sadness, or emptiness
Loss of interest in things you used to enjoy doing
Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or excessive guilt
Low energy that feels heavy rather than just tired
Changes in sleep, appetite, or motivation
Difficulty imagining a future that feels good or meaningful
Emotionally, depression often comes with self-criticism and self-doubt, not just fatigue. Cognitively, you may notice your thoughts may feel slower, darker, or more rigid. From a nervous system standpoint, depression can reflect a kind of shutdown or collapse response, where everything feels muted or overwhelming at the same time.
Key Differences (and Overlap) Between Burnout and Depression
One of the biggest differences between burnout vs depression is scope and persistence.
Burnout is usually context-dependent. You might feel better on vacation, during time off, or when you imagine leaving a stressful role.
Depression tends to follow you, regardless of setting. Even rest or positive changes don’t fully lift the heaviness.
That said, the overlap is real. Burnout can actually become depression when stress goes unaddressed for too long. And many people experience both at the same time.
Why It’s So Hard to Tell the Difference
High-achieving women are especially good at functioning through distress. You may still be working, showing up, and performing well, even while feeling depleted inside. That can make emotional exhaustion easy to dismiss or minimize.
You might tell yourself:
“Other people have it worse.”
“I should be able to handle this.”
“Once things calm down, I’ll feel better.”
But if exhaustion, numbness, or low mood has been lingering for weeks or months, it deserves attention, not judgment.
How Therapy Can Help with Both Burnout and Depression
Therapy isn’t about slapping a label on your experience. It’s about understanding what your system is responding to and what it actually needs.
In therapy, you can:
Explore whether your symptoms are situational, cumulative, or something deeper
Learn how stress and perfectionism are impacting your nervous system
Address self-criticism and confidence erosion
Build sustainable boundaries and emotional regulation tools
Create space for rest and recovery that actually works
Whether you’re dealing with mental health burnout, depression, or a mix of both, support can help you feel more like yourself again.
Reflect Before You Self-Diagnose
Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with me?”, try asking:
How long have I been feeling this way?
What has changed, and what hasn’t?
Do I feel relief when stressors ease, or does the heaviness stay?
Is this interfering with my ability to enjoy, connect, or feel hopeful?
If emotional exhaustion or low mood feels persistent, overwhelming, or hard to shake, it might be time to get support.
Online Therapy in Virginia, Florida, Mississippi & Missouri
If you’re a high-achieving woman struggling with burnout, depression, or both, and are located in Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, or Missouri, reach out to us to see how therapy can help.
Margaux Flood, LCSW, is a licensed therapist with over a decade of experience supporting clients in Virginia and Florida. She specializes in couples therapy, women’s mental health, anxiety, and self-esteem, using evidence-based approaches like Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), mindfulness-based techniques, and attachment-focused interventions to help clients strengthen connection, build confidence, and feel more grounded in themselves and their relationships. , Margaux Flood, LCSW is committed to providing compassionate, expert virtual care for clients across Virginia and Florida. Her team also provides individual psychotherapy services across the states of Mississippi and Missouri.