AUTHOR=Melchers Martin Christoph , Plieger Thomas , Meermann Rolf , Reuter Martin 

TITLE=Differentiating Burnout from Depression: Personality Matters!

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00113

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00113

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p>Stress-related affective disorders have been identified as a core health problem of the twenty-first century. In the endeavor to identify vulnerability factors, personality has been discussed as a major factor explaining and predicting disorders like <italic>depression</italic> or <italic>burnout</italic>. An unsolved question is whether there are specific personality factors allowing differentiation of <italic>burnout</italic> from <italic>depression</italic>. The present study tested the relation between one of the most prominent, biological personality theories, Cloninger’s <italic>Temperament and Character Inventory</italic>, and common measures of <italic>burnout</italic> (<italic>Maslach Burnout Inventory General</italic>) and <italic>depression</italic> (<italic>Beck Depression Inventory 2</italic>) in a sample of German employees (<italic>N</italic> = 944) and a sample of inpatients (<italic>N</italic> = 425). Although the same personality traits (<italic>harm avoidance</italic> and <italic>self-directedness</italic>) were predominantly associated with <italic>burnout</italic> and <italic>depression</italic>, there was a much stronger association to <italic>depression</italic> than to <italic>burnout</italic> in both samples. Besides, we observed specific associations between personality traits and subcomponents of burnout. Our results underline differences in the association of burnout vs. depression to personality, which may mirror differences in scope. While symptoms of <italic>depression</italic> affect all aspects of life, <italic>burnout</italic> is supposed to be specifically related to the workplace and its requirements. The much stronger association of personality to depression can be important to select appropriate therapy methods and to develop a more specified treatment for burnout in comparison to depression.</p>