The key facts
- The main sign of post-COVID syndrome is a sharp deterioration in well-being 12–48 hours after physical or mental exertion, whereas with burnout rest brings relief.
- With post-COVID, a person may retain the desire to engage in usual activities but struggle to begin actions; with depression, anhedonia is characteristic.
- Up to 44% of people with long COVID have clinically significant symptoms of depression — both conditions need to be treated, the specialist notes.
Three Differences Between Post-COVID Syndrome and Burnout
Psychotherapist Yevgeny Kulhavchuk, in a comment to the newspaper Vzglyad, explained how to distinguish the consequences of having had COVID-19 from burnout. According to him, people after a severe form of the illness may experience weakness, decreased motivation, and difficulty concentrating, and attributing these solely to fatigue or character traits is wrong.
Deterioration After Exertion
One of the main signs of post-COVID syndrome, the specialist said, is a deterioration in well-being after physical or mental exertion. Unlike burnout, where sleep and rest usually bring relief, after COVID-19 even slight activity can trigger a sharp deterioration 12–48 hours later: while performing a task the person feels fine, but the next day faces severe fatigue.
The Nature of Reduced Activity and Brain Fog
The second difference concerns reduced activity: with depression, anhedonia often develops — the loss of the ability to feel pleasure and anticipate positive emotions — whereas with the presumed dopamine system dysfunction after COVID-19, a person may retain the desire to engage in usual activities but experience difficulty initiating actions. The third sign is brain fog: with depression, slowed thinking is often accompanied by an obsessive return to the same worries, while with post-COVID syndrome patients complain of clouded consciousness, difficulty concentrating, and word-finding problems.
Expert Comment and Recommendations
“The dopamine system has neuroplasticity, and even with damaged terminals the brain is capable of compensation. Moreover, depression and post-COVID syndrome often go hand in hand, since up to 44% of people with long COVID have clinically significant symptoms of depression. This doesn’t mean depression is ‘pretending’ to be COVID; it means both need to be treated,” Kulhavchuk noted. If symptoms persist after the illness, he does not advise pushing oneself with excessive effort, recommending instead an energy-conservation strategy and gentle neuromodulation, and in case of noticeable changes in thinking and emotional state — consulting a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, or neurologist familiar with post-COVID syndrome.
Context
Gazeta.Ru recalls that a group of scientists led by Benedikt Michael, director of the Laboratory of Infectious Neurobiology at the University of Liverpool, previously found that COVID-19 takes 20 years of life away from the human brain. Also earlier, the incidence of COVID-19, acute respiratory viral infections, and influenza increased in Russia.
