Burnout sure shot recipe for depression

A new research has suggested a strong connection between burnout and depression.

In a study of more than 5,500 school teachers to estimate the prevalence of depressive disorders in workers with burnout by City College of New York, 90 percent of the subjects identified as burned out met diagnostic criteria for depression.

The study also examined the overlap of burnout with the atypical subtype of depression. Features of atypical depression were observed in 63 percent of the burned-out participants with major depression.

Researcher Irvin Schonfeld said that the study suggests that the burnout- depression overlap has been largely underestimated.

Schonfeld added that atypical depression may account for a substantial part of this overlap and overall, their findings point to depressive symptoms and depressive disorders as central concerns in the management of burnout.

Schonfeld continued that the clinical research on treatments for depression offers solutions that may help workers identified as burned out.

The study is published in International Journal of Stress Management.