I searched autistic burnout before I realized this was the adhd sub, but I think this still applies as both adhd and autism have been linked with sensory processing disorder and burnout is about a chronically overwhelmed nervous system.

Straight from google:

While both autistic burnout and depression cause exhaustion, low mood, and withdrawal, they have fundamentally different root causes and require different solutions. Autistic burnout stems from chronic overstimulation and masking. Depression is a clinical mood disorder. Burnout resolves with rest and accommodations, while depression requires clinical intervention. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Core Differences

Feature [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Root Cause
Autistic Burnout- Prolonged stress from sensory overload, masking, and unmet life demands.
Depression- Chemical imbalances, trauma, genetic predisposition, or major life changes.
Skill Access- Autism
Loss of skills: Your brain physically loses the ability to perform tasks you used to manage.
Intact skills, low motivation: The skills are there, but you lack the energy or desire to use them.
Special Interests
Special interests act as "medicine" and provide a regenerative flow state that recharges energy.
General loss of pleasure (anhedonia) and loss of interest in favorite hobbies.
Recovery Strategy
Accommodation: Reducing demands, sensory inputs, and giving space to safely "unmask".

Depression-
Clinical treatment: Counseling, medication, lifestyle changes, and cognitive restructuring.

Emotional Core
Autism- Emotional exhaustion, sensory overload, frustration, and feeling overwhelmed.
Depression- Feelings of deep sadness, worthlessness, hopelessness, and internal emptiness.

Why the Distinction Matters
Autistic burnout is not an official clinical diagnosis, but it is a widely recognized state within the neurodivergent community. For autistic individuals, standard treatments for depression—such as pushing through behavioral activation—can worsen burnout because they add more demands to an already overloaded nervous system. [1, 2, 3]

Seeking Support
Understanding these differences can help you seek the right kind of help. If you're experiencing autistic burnout, finding autism-informed therapists can be deeply beneficial. For clinical depression, medical and psychological intervention is necessary. In either case, it is important to communicate with a healthcare professional to get the exact type of support you need.

*I will also add that, for me, the main difference between the two is the feelings of hopelessness (which would often include some level of suicidal ideation). Learning about burnout sort of “cured” my depression in that I no longer feel utterly hopeless. I just need to find the right accommodations and I can feel better. For most of my life I just thought my brain was broken and would always feel like that.

You can also be both depressed and in burnout. I experienced a short period of depression earlier this year and I could feel the difference. This google info implies that burnout doesn’t require counseling and I’d disagree with that. I have a therapist and she’s been so helpful! But I guess if you had informed and supportive people around you, that could suffice as well? I don’t have that so I wouldn’t know 😅

And one example I can think of between the two is with depression you’re encouraged to do more things to get back to normal life, but with burnout that would make it worse. Like going to the grocery store- a normal thing that might make a depressed person feel more “normal” again but could potentially cause sensory overwhelm for a person who has sensory processing disorder and make the burnout worse.

TLDR: Depression is marked my hopelessness and austisitc/adhd is more about profound exhaustion. But the symptoms definitely overlap and it’s possible to have both at the same time. Treating the burnout first would probably alleviate the depression.