Burn out Epidemie

We are living in a burn out epidemic. CBS estimates that about one million people in the Netherlands have symptoms of burnout: one in seven workers. An employee with burnout stays home for an average of 242 days. That’s considerably longer than the annual flu, and then reintegration still has to begin. The cost to society is in the billions. Shocking figures that affect many lives – and yet we just keep on running.

With such complaints, you have physical and psychological symptoms. Feelings of fatigue and exhaustion are strongly in the foreground. The symptoms you experience limit you in your daily functioning: at work, at home and/or in your social life. There are often physical symptoms such as extreme fatigue, sleeping problems and headaches. In addition, there are also many psychological symptoms such as difficulty relaxing, gloominess, feelings of guilt and the feeling of not being able to enjoy things.

With depression, a lot of things happen in your head.
Neurobiologist Brankele Frank, himself a victim of burnout, explains. Read more in Vrij Nederland (in Dutch)

Burnout or depression?

People with burnout have many symptoms that also occur with a depression. For example, they are often gloomy and lethargic. They may also suffer from feelings of guilt, just like people with depression. As a result, depression and burnout are sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other. The difference is that burnout is the result of long-term overburdening, whereas depression can also occur without overburdening. Furthermore, predisposition plays a greater role in the development of depression than burnout.