Can Language Learning Burn Out Lead To Depression?

You will often hear that burn out can lead to depression and this whole type of situation sounds awful. You have also probably heard that you can get burnt out from learning a language, so I think it’s only natural to ask that if you where to become burnt out from learning a language …can it lead to depression?

Luckily it can’t. Burn out from learning a language is a little different than the type of burn out you can suffer from in other areas of your life. It can still be bad, but it is unlikely to lead you to depression and is more likely to just lead to quitting your language studies.   

Is Burn Out From Work And Burn Out From Language Learning The Same?

When you look at language leaning burn out and workplace burn out, they can seem extremely similar, often there is a lot of overlap with the symptoms and I’m sure many people would say they are the exact same thing.

However, I would say no, they are not the same. I think they may begin from the same starting place, which is why there is plenty of cross over, but I think they do split and can be separated into two different problems.

When we look at language learning, this is something we have chosen to do and it is something we have control over. We allow our desire to achieve a lot push us too far and we getting exhausted and burn out.

When we look at work place burn out, we have a lot less control in this type of situation. We have to keep turning up to work and people will often report feeling trapped and fed up with it as they can’t change anything.

You have to keep working to pay the bills and it’s this feeling of “no escape” is not present in language learning, The escape in language learning is very real and easy …you just quit, which is what most people do and this is ultimately why the two types of burn out are very different.    

Burn Out From Work Can Lead To Depression

Many people say they feel trapped in the situation when they talk about workplace burn out and it is this aspect of the burn out that can lead to depression.

Burn out is not enjoyable, you will just feel mentally and physically exhausted and if you feel that you cannot get out of the situation or change it in anyway, then things are only going to spiral downward and lead to further frustration, anxiety and helplessness, which are all going to lead to depression.

There are plenty of studies to show this can happen and you can literally go to your doctor and talk about this, it is very much real and recognised issue.

This doesn’t really happen in language learning and that is simply because we have control over the situation.  We all just give up on studying if we start suffering from burn out, we are not “stuck” in the situation.    

Language Learning Burn Out Can Lead To A Lack Of Interest In Studying

When we start to get burnt out from learning a language our brain tries to protect us, it allows our motivation and interest in the language fade away. You really can change from obsessed to not interested at all.

This, along with the exhaustion allows us to easily walk away from our studies when we are burnt out. We just stop one day and then months go by before we even think about it again and maybe try to start again.

I am sure many people who suffer burn out at work get a similar feeling, but unfortunately they do not really have the option to quit. They have bills to pay and families to support, they have to keep showing up even though their interest and motivation are completely dead and they are also both mentally and physically exhausted.

Language Learning Burn Out Can Lead To Anxiety

Language learning burn out can lead to a form of anxiety, which is basically another way our brain is trying to protect us.

I noticed that this was happening to me when I first got burnt out. I crashed, totally stopped studying and allowed myself to recover. After a few days I was feeling a lot better and then after a few weeks I was totally back to normal …but I didn’t start studying again.

Any time I even thought about studying I would start feeling anxious. My brain has started to associate studying with the feeling of tiredness and headaches and just general misery, so now it was trying to protect me from even trying to do that again. It wanted to make sure I didn’t feel these negative feelings.

Luckily I was able to spot that this was happening and I could basically override this and just force myself to study, but it wasn’t easy. I did end up taking about a 3 month break due to this and I think if I hadn’t realised what was happening, I would still be on that break now.

I have a feeling a lot of people suffer from this and then just never return to the language. Any time they even consider it, the anxiety kicks in and they drop the idea of even trying to start studying again.

The Lack Of Progress In Your Language Can Overwhelm You

While I think that you are more likely to quit learning your language, rather than get depressed when you suffer from burn out, I think there could still be a risk.

When you start to suffer burn out you will become frustrated, annoyed and even sad. You will have had big dreams about being able to speak the language and it can start to feel like this will never happen. The lack of progress could overwhelm you and lead you to become genuinely upset, so for some people this could lead to depression.

I do think it is very rare. The vast majority of us will just become overwhelmed and quit studying, and while that can be upsetting, I think we can be easily distracted by other things.

I think it is also much more likely that you will just convince yourself that language learning is not for you, and you will use this to justify your decision to stop studying.

This is also something you can’t do when you get burnt out at work. You have to keep working to pay the bills and having to justify continuing with the torture (work) that caused the burn out in the first place, which is much more likely to lead to depression.

(You can read more about – Why Do Some People Struggle To Learn New Languages, While Others Don’t?)

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see that while work place burn out and language learning burn out can look and even feel very similar, they are actually very different.

Language learning burn out is just going to lead you to quit and walk away from your dreams of knowing another language. While that is upsetting, it shouldn’t lead to depression, where as work place burn out can leave you feeling very trapped and helpless, which can certainly cause you to spiral into a depression.   

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Language Learning Burn Out)