> "go for a walk" or "work out" or "sleep more"
is actually sound advice to bring back normality. "Fake it until you make it" is part of recovering and becoming a "normal person" again. Those "normal people" giving you the advice catch depression like one catches a cold. They suffer for three days and then it vanishes again and the sun begins to rise in the moring. They don't understand the concept of eternal darkness and slow but steady decay while being still technically alive.
In order to recover the source of the illness needs to be cut out from ones body and life, whatever the source is. Sometimes (often) it's not even obvious.
Yes, you are in pain, yes, you are broken, yes, you cannot go back to your old life. But there might be a new life you can evolve into. You probably have to let go of things you hold dearly. Habits, people, substances, part of your senses, part of your body, your goals, your beliefs, etc. whatever it is that makes you sick.
This is very hard, to be sure. But it is possible, and while I'm not sure I'd agree that it's absolutely necessary to recovery, it certainly does make that outcome vastly more probable.
Of course this is hardly a new concept. But, for reasons beyond my knowledge at this time, it seems almost never to be usefully expressed. We see it everywhere from "oh, just cheer up, it's all in your head!" to the Christian doctrine that the only truly unforgivable sin is that of despair - but only rarely anything that's likely to help those who need it most.
Well... isn't it?
I actually phrased it as "it's all in your head" to highlight that you _can_ do something about it, unlike cancer, it's something you can control by power of mind/will (not saying it's easy).
- formerly burned out.
So is a brain tumor or glaucoma, in a literal sense, but I doubt many people would seriously use the expression "all in your head" for any of those. In my experience it's overwhelmingly used for anxiety and depression, with the implication being that there's no hard physical problem and that you just need to change your habits/attitude/beliefs (which, incidentally, is an approach that is notably ineffective for schizophrenia, apart from being done with others as a harm reduction mechanism).
I was there, and then one of my friends died, which triggered me to quit my job, which ultimately led to me being able to get enough mental acumen back and make good decisions to lead myself out of the hole I'd dug myself into.
Over 15 months before I was capable of getting myself back into the workforce properly. Fortunately I have very understanding family who let me live with them rent free, and had saved enough that I was able to do this. Not everyone is this fortunate.
The going for walks, making sure I spend time with friends, etc, is what I do now to insure that burnout is a lot less likely to happen again. It does seem to help considerably.
I had to go through a long period of stress and burnout to really believe that burnout was something that could happen to me, though, and take preventative measures seriously.
So not only it is not helpful, but it is infuriating to be repeatedly lectured about the same old wives' advices he already knows, as if he was stupid.
I won't even comment on the abyssal stupidity of your last sentence, you really have no clue of what you're talking about.