How Can I Tell if I’m Depressed or Burned Out?
总是觉得累，这是抑郁还是倦怠？
Q: I’m tired all the time and feel unproductive at work. How do I know if I’m depressed or burned out?
问：我总是觉得累，工作效率不高。我该怎么辨别这究竟是抑郁还是倦怠所致呢？
The exhaustion, when it hits, is all-consuming. Your inbox chimes and you want to fling your phone across the room. You’re sick of your apartment; you can’t stand to leave your apartment. You fumble for the right word: You tell friends you are tired or fried or just done.
精疲力尽是一件让人觉得特别耗神的事情。收件箱收到新邮件的提示音，你恨不得把手机扔到房间另一边。你烦自己的住处，但又烦出门。你琢磨哪个词更合适：告诉朋友们你很累、累晕了，或者累趴下了。
How do you know if this wave of weariness signals a case of burnout — or full-blown depression? We asked experts for ways to tell the difference between the two, and how to alleviate the symptoms of both.
你要怎么知道这一波疲倦感究竟是倦怠还是全面抑郁的信号呢？我们请教了专家要如何来区分这两种状况，以及如何缓解相关症状。
What’s the difference between burnout and depression?
倦怠和抑郁有什么区别？
The concept of burnout comes from workplace psychology, said Angela Neal-Barnett, a psychology professor at Kent State University and author of “Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman’s Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic and Fear.” Typically, therapists associate burnout with work, although researchers are also studying parental burnout, when caregivers feel chronically exhausted. Burnout has become pervasive in the cultural lexicon, especially during the pandemic. On TikTok, the trend of “quiet quitting,” or doing the bare minimum at a job, has gone viral, as people share stories about feeling burned out by long hours and a punishing “hustle culture.”
安吉拉·尼尔-巴内特说，倦怠的概念来自职场心理学。这位肯特州立大学心理学教授著有《舒缓你的神经：黑人女性理解和克服焦虑、恐慌和恐惧指南》(Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman’s Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic and Fear)一书。通常情况下，治疗师会将倦怠与工作联系起来，不过研究人员也在研究父母倦怠，即看护者的长期疲惫。倦怠已经成为了一个司空见惯的文化词汇，尤其是在疫情期间。在TikTok上，“躺平”走红，人们分享许多因长时间工作和令人痛苦的“奋斗文化”而感到倦怠的故事。
Workers can become burned out when they feel like they don’t have control over their day-to-day lives, getting bogged down in the minutiae of their tasks. People who are burned out may feel depleted and cynical about their jobs; they can resent their assignments and co-workers. They might feel irritable and ineffective, like they just can’t get anything done. For people who interact with others in their jobs, like health care workers or people in the retail and service industries, they might start to lose empathy, thinking of patients or customers as just another number, or a rote task to complete. There are also a litany of physical symptoms that can come with the unending stress of burnout: insomnia, headaches, gastrointestinal issues.
当上班族感到无法控制自己的日常生活、陷入各种差事的细枝末节中时，就会变得倦怠。倦怠的人可能会感到精疲力竭，对工作不胜其烦；对手头的任务和同事大为不满。他们感到烦躁和低效，好像什么事都做不了。对于在工作中需要与他人互动的人来说，比如医护人员或者零售和服务行业的从业者，他们可能会失去同理心，患者或客户在他们眼里不过是一个数字，或者是一个需要靠惯性完成的任务。伴随无尽倦怠压力的还有一连串的身体症状：失眠、头痛、肠胃问题。
The World Health Organization includes burnout in the International Classification of Diseases, its diagnostic manual, characterizing it as an “occupational phenomenon,” not a medical condition. Depression, however, is a clinical diagnosis. People with depression often experience anhedonia, the inability to enjoy activities they once treasured. “You can be reading a book you used to love and now you hate it,” said Dr. Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St. Louis. “Or you love watching Bravo, but now it doesn’t make you laugh anymore.” With burnout, you might not have energy for your hobbies; with depression, you might not find them fun or pleasant at all, said Jeanette M. Bennett, an associate professor who studies the effects of stress on health at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
世界卫生组织将倦怠列入了诊断手册《国际疾病分类》中，将其描述为一种“职业现象”，而不是一种病症。然而，抑郁症属于一种临床诊断。患有抑郁症的人通常会经历快感缺失，哪怕是曾经让人喜欢的东西现在也提不起兴趣了。“一本你以前会喜欢的书，现在可能会讨厌它，”圣路易斯华盛顿大学的精神病学家杰茜·戈尔德博士说。“你原本可能喜欢Bravo频道的节目，但现在它再也不能让你发笑了。”北卡罗莱纳大学夏洛特分校研究压力对健康影响的副教授珍妮特·贝内特说，倦怠状态下，你可能不再有精力摆弄自己的那些爱好；而患有抑郁症的人可能根本不觉得它们有趣或令人愉快。
As with burnout, people with depression may sleep too much or too little, and may struggle to focus. People with depression may isolate themselves from others; they may feel like it takes a lot of energy to shower or eat. Depression can induce an overwhelming sense of sadness and hopelessness. In severe cases, people with depression may start having thoughts that they are worthless, or that life is not worth living. These symptoms tend to last for at least two weeks, Dr. Gold and Dr. Neal-Barnett said.
与倦怠一样，患有抑郁的人可能睡不醒或睡不着，并且有可能出现注意力不集中的状况。抑郁症患者可能不愿与人打交道；觉得洗澡或吃饭都很累。抑郁症会诱发一种压倒性的悲伤和绝望感。在严重的情况下，抑郁症患者可能会开始觉得自己没有价值，或者认为生活很没意思。戈尔德和尼尔-巴内特说，这些症状往往会持续至少两周。
A key differentiator is that burnout gets better when you step away from work, said Dr. Rebecca Brendel, president of the American Psychiatric Association. When you take vacation time, or a mental health day, you feel at least slightly recharged. Depression doesn’t go away if you change your circumstances. “There’s not that bounce-back effect,” she said. “It takes more than that.”
美国精神病学协会主席丽贝卡·布伦德尔博士说，一个关键的区别是，当你放下工作时，倦怠会有所缓解。当你休假或者休一天心理健康假时，你至少会觉得精力有所恢复。而抑郁却不会随环境的改变消失。“没有那种反弹效应，”她说。“它需要的不仅仅是这些。”
A complex combination of genetic and environmental factors can contribute to depression. People who endure a traumatic event, or go through a major life change, are at higher risk for developing depression; so are people who have family members with depression. Burnout itself can also be a risk factor for depression, Dr. Neal-Barnett said.
遗传和环境因素的复杂组合可能会导致抑郁。经历过创伤性事件的人，或生活经历过巨变的人，患抑郁的风险更高；家庭成员患有抑郁的人也是如此。尼尔-巴内特说，倦怠本身也可能是导致抑郁症的风险因素。
And you can experience both burnout and depression at the same time. “Given the effects of Covid, given racism as a public health crisis in this country, it’s important for us to be watchful of that combination,” Dr. Neal-Barnett said.
你可能会同时经历倦怠和抑郁。尼尔-巴内特说：“考虑到新冠的影响，考虑到种族主义在这个国家是一种公共卫生危机，我们必须警惕这两者的结合。”
What to do if you think you are burned out
如果你觉得自己有倦怠的现象，该怎么办
Taking a mental health day or a “sad day” off work, if you’re able to, can offer a reprieve from your symptoms. If you feel constantly burned out, you might want to consider a career change — which is easier said than done, Dr. Gold acknowledged. “Being able to say, ‘This is a bad workplace, that’s it, I quit,’ is a privilege beyond privilege,” she said. There are also smaller ways to set boundaries, like turning off notifications from your work email or Slack at certain hours. If there’s one meeting you consistently dread, try to block off five or 10 minutes right after to do something that can help you relax, Dr. Gold suggested. “Being able to have some control is a preventer from burnout,” she said.
如果可以的话，请一天精神健康假或情绪低落假，可以缓解你的症状。如果你经常感到倦怠，也许就需要考虑换工作了——戈尔德承认，这说起来容易做起来难。“‘这份工作太烂了，我不干了’这种话，不是谁都可以说的，”她表示。还有一些设定边界的小办法，比如在特定时间段关闭工作邮件或Slack通知。戈尔德建议，如果有一场会议是你一直害怕的，那就试着在会议结束后立即抽出五到十分钟时间，做一些能帮助你放松的事情。她说：“能够有所控制，就能防止倦怠的发生。”
You can also try to accentuate the elements of your job that you find meaningful. Maybe that means mentoring a more junior colleague, Dr. Gold said, or offering to hand off responsibilities you enjoy less to a co-worker in favor of helping them with a project you’re more interested in.
你还可以尝试强调你认为有意义的工作元素。戈尔德说，也许这意味着要指导一位资历较浅的同事，或者将你不太喜欢的职责交给同事，转而帮助他们完成你更感兴趣的项目。
Exercise can help relieve work-related tension, as can carving out even a few minutes to decompress — without your phone, Dr. Bennett said. “If you sit on a computer for your job, and then you’re on your phone while you’re commuting, and then you come home and watch whatever Netflix series you’re into — all of that is stimulation,” she said. Your brain needs a break so that it can help buffer against stress — which means stepping away from screens, but also giving yourself a few moments of quiet, sitting with your thoughts, without distractions.
贝内特说，锻炼可以帮助缓解工作相关的紧张情绪，哪怕只是抽出几分钟的放松时间——不是用手机来放松。她说：“如果你工作时面对电脑，然后上下班通勤的时候也是在玩手机，回到家看你喜欢的网飞剧集，所有这些都是刺激。”你的大脑需要休息，这样它才能帮助缓冲压力——这意味着远离屏幕，但这也能给自己片刻的安静，和你的感受多待一会儿，不受外界干扰。
If you are struggling to cope with burnout, consider speaking with a mental health professional.
如果你正在努力应对倦怠，考虑与心理健康专业人士谈谈。
What to do if you think you are depressed
如果你觉得自己抑郁了该怎么办
Reach out to a mental health provider, who can help develop a plan to treat and address your symptoms.
联系精神健康工作者，他们可以帮助制定治疗和对症计划。
In the meantime, start small and simple. If you tell yourself you’re going on a five-minute walk, you’ll probably end up walking for longer than that, Dr. Gold said. “But it’s hard when you’re exhausted and sad to make yourself do anything.” Getting out of the house won’t alleviate all your symptoms, but any kind of movement can help you feel a bit better, she said.
与此同时，要从简单的小事开始做起。戈尔德说，如果你告诉自己要走五分钟的路，最后可能会走得比这更长。“但当你筋疲力尽、悲伤不堪时，很难让自己做任何事情。”她说，走出家门并不能缓解你所有的症状，但任何形式的运动都能帮助你感觉好一点。
You can write down coping mechanisms that have been helpful for you — calling a friend, or going for a quick run — and keep the list on your desk or on your dresser for when you’ll need them. Pay attention to what works for you, Dr. Gold said. “If you don’t like mindfulness, don’t force it,” she said. “Do the things that actually help you feel better in the moments when you feel bad.”
你可以写下对你有帮助的应对方法——给朋友打电话，或者跑步——把这个清单放在桌上或者梳妆台上，需要的时候就可以用。戈尔德说，要注意什么对你有效。“如果你不喜欢正念，就不要强迫自己，”她说。“在你感觉很糟的时候，做那些真正能让你感觉好一点的事情。”
来源：好英语网
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