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Updated: Apr 19, 2026

A New Method for Inducing a Depression-Like Behavior in Rats
Published on: February 22, 2018
[Not quite the same: illness beliefs regarding burnout and depression among the general population]
Johannes Bahlmann1, Georg Schomerus1, Matthias C Angermeyer2
1Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie.
Objective:
This study examined illness beliefs of the lay public associated with the diagnostic labels burnout and depression.
Methods:
Representative population survey in Germany 2011, using unlabelled case vignettes of a person suffering from depression. Following presentation of the vignette, respondents were asked openly how they would call the problem described. Agreement with various illness beliefs was elicited with Likert-scaled items.
Results:
Seeing the problem as inherited predicted use of the label depression (OR 1.29, p < 0.001), while stress at work as a perceived cause was associated with use of the label burnout (OR 1.56, p < 0.001). Belief that the problem described resembled everyday experiences (belief in a symptom continuum) also predicted using the label burnout instead of depression (OR 1.31, p < 0.05).
Conclusion:
Although overlapping with beliefs about depression, the diagnostic label burnout is also associated with specific illness beliefs among the general public.
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