At a glance
Overview
Burnout is rarely only about having too much to do. It often grows from a gap between what is demanded and what you have available, reinforced by beliefs about what might happen if you stop.
The work can address both levels: practical recovery, boundaries, and workload, alongside the internal rules that make rest feel unsafe or undeserved.
Persistent exhaustion can also have physical causes. Therapy does not replace medical care, and a medical assessment may be an important part of understanding what is happening.
Who This May Help
- Exhaustion that sleep, weekends, or holidays no longer relieve
- Cynicism or detachment from work you once cared about
- Difficulty switching off or guilt during unproductive time
- Irritability with people close to you followed by regret or shame
- Caregiving fatigue and the pressure of always being dependable
- Returning after leave and worrying that nothing has really changed
Experiences People Often Describe
“I get through the day and have nothing left for the people I love.”
“I sleep and still wake up tired.”
“If I stop, I am afraid I will not be able to start again.”
“Rest feels like something I have not earned.”
How Therapy May Work
- 01
Creating breathing room
When capacity is low, early work focuses on basic recovery and one or two realistic places where pressure can come down.
- 02
Examining the rules
We look at beliefs about productivity, reliability, saying no, and what you expect will happen if you disappoint someone.
- 03
Building a sustainable rhythm
Later work focuses on a workable life rather than a brief reset, including honest decisions about boundaries, priorities, and trade-offs.
A collaborative process
How I Approach This Work
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help identify the thoughts and behaviours that keep you pushing past your limits, then test smaller and more sustainable alternatives.
We also make room for the anger, grief, and loneliness that often sit beneath burnout. Where demands are genuinely unreasonable, we name that rather than treating them as a personal coping failure.
Read about my approachQuestions About This Work
Is this burnout or depression?
They can overlap and the distinction is not always simple. We can explore the pattern together, and I will encourage medical assessment when that appears important.
I barely have time. Can therapy fit right now?
The pace can be adapted. A focused or less frequent rhythm may be more realistic at first, with attention on the changes most likely to create breathing room.
Will therapy simply teach me to tolerate more?
No. The work includes examining whether the demands themselves need to change, not only increasing your ability to withstand them.
