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Is this depression, burnout or something else?

NAS80746

Hi, I just want to lie on my bed under my bed tent and play candy crush or cards on my phone all day. 

I recently put my bed tent back up after 5 months of it being stored away. 

Am I having a burnout period? Or am I depressed? Or am I just really lazy? 

  • Well it could be either or maybe it has nothing to do with that. I find it hard to distinguish between things like that. Never know what's really going just feel the effects.

    Instead I tend to try to find the source of what is causing me such problems. You could try this too and see if it helps. If you can find the cause then hopefully you can do things to stop it happening to you. I find a big help is writing things down. It helps me think more clearly and sometimes the answer is there straight away. It could be anything, going out too much, stresses at work, a bad day which I still haven't completely recovered from... I'm sorry if this isn't much help. I really hope it does help and you'll be feeling better soon.

  • Irrespective of the label - and yes, I agree that it can be confusing and there's probably some overlap between them - I think it better to look at what's been happening in your life, what has pushed you into this period and the need to retreat and what helps you when this happens.  If that's a period of "tent life" then so be it.  I feel drawn to the idea of a bed tent myself and can see how this could feel very healing when you're feeling low, overwhelmed or burnout.  Call it "tent therapy" if that feels better. 

    You're already considering what might be going on for you, but instead of diagnoses I think it would be more useful to take a general look at patterns in your life, other times you've felt this way, what prevents it from getting worse and what to keep around you at such times.  There may be some common themes but I think we all have an individual "signature" so that we can tell when we're approaching burnout and hopefully minimise it.  Understanding your pattern might then put you in good stead and allow you to feel more on top of things.      

  • I agree with Fibonacci Squid that it could be either or none (or both).  A lot depends on how much it's interfering with the rest of your life.  Are you still eating, sleeping normally, working (if you work) etc.?  Even so, burnout and depression are hard to distinguish, I find.  I think I'll never know for sure which which I lost years of my life to (I think probably both, but it's hard to tell).

  • Only you can answer that question - may be one of them, or potentially all three!

    It's good that you have raised the question within your own mind.  Keep checking in on yourself.  I've had situations where I have been like that for 6 hours, 6 days, 6 weeks, 6 months and 6 years.  I don't recommend these latter time scales if you can help it.  Keep a caring eye on yourself!

  • Could be either, could be none.

    I don't think a little time relaxing is at all a bad thing, if it is impacting on your ability to do other self care tasks like eat, sleep, wash etc then it should be worried about and you should consider seeking more help or using the skills that helped last time.

    I really want to know what a bed tent is, because it sounds amazing and I want one. Mostly I use a blanket arrangement but it doesn't always work great although the last one I made worked quite well.