A fluorescent-lamp driving apparatus and a compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamp, when a blowout occurs at the electrodes of the arc tube, swiftly and assuredly stop a glow discharge at the electrodes of the arc tube, therefore have heightened security. In the compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamp 1, a switching device (nMOS-FET56) is mounted to the lighting unit 50 so that the entire device main body of the switching device faces the choke coil 52, with the print substrate 51 therebetween. Thus structured lighting unit 50 forms a heat transmission path between the nMOS-FET56 and the choke coil 52, and the heat generated at the choke coil 52 will be swiftly and assuredly transmitted to the device main body of the nMOS-FET56.