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It’s like a localised depression. Having had both it feels very similar except, as you said, for burnout if you leave work then suddenly it’s not so bad.

That describes it perfectly - I am on leave right now after a major case of burnout and it's like my brain just turned off my motivation towards my job as a defense mechanism to protect my mental and emotional health.

for me they feed each other in a sinister feedback loop... burnout makes me incapable of doing my job, which makes me feel worthless, which makes me feel depressed, which makes me unable to do anything, which makes me more incapable of doing my job, etc.

It's a tough hole to get out of.

i agree they are at least a little different but your definition of burnout is actually pretty descriptive of clinical depression.