“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” – Sydney J. Harris
Understanding Stress and Burnout: From Pressure to Exhaustion
Stress is a normal reaction to demands, but when it becomes chronic and unmanaged, it can deplete your physical and emotional resources, potentially leading to burnout. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. It’s characterized by feelings of energy depletion, increased mental distance or cynicism towards your job or responsibilities, and reduced professional or personal efficacy. This experience is widespread. In the UK, work-related stress, depression or anxiety accounts for a significant portion of all working days lost. According to the latest Labour Force Survey from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), an estimated 1.8 million workers suffered from these conditions in the 2022/23 period. If you feel constantly overwhelmed, detached, or ineffective, it’s a sign that your coping mechanisms are overloaded, not a sign of personal inadequacy.
How Therapy Can Help You Recover and Build Resilience
Therapy for stress and burnout goes beyond simple relaxation techniques. It provides a structured space to understand the sources of your overwhelm—whether they are external pressures, internal drivers like perfectionism, or a combination of both. The goal is to help you develop sustainable strategies to manage demands, set healthy boundaries, reconnect with your values, and rebuild a sense of control and accomplishment. It’s a process of moving from survival mode to a more balanced and engaged way of living.
Therapeutic Approaches for Stress and Burnout
I draw on various therapeutic models to create a plan that addresses both the symptoms and root causes of your exhaustion:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Stress: CBT is highly effective for managing chronic stress. It helps you identify and modify the high-pressure or catastrophic thought patterns (“I must do everything perfectly,” “If I stop, everything will collapse”) that fuel anxiety and overwhelm. You’ll also develop practical problem-solving and time-management skills.
- Mindfulness-Based Approaches for Burnout: Therapies like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) are specifically designed to counter autopilot living. They teach you to recognise early signs of stress in the body and mind, respond with intention rather than reactivity, and cultivate a present-moment focus that can reduce rumination about past pressures or future worries.
- Psychodynamic Therapy for Burnout: This exploratory approach can help uncover deeper reasons why you might be prone to overwork or struggle to set boundaries. It may explore early messages about worth being tied to achievement, unconscious fears of disapproval, or patterns that lead you to neglect self-care.
- Positive Psychology for Burnout: When feeling cynical and detached, Positive Psychology offers tools to reconnect with meaning, purpose, and your core strengths. By intentionally cultivating positive emotions, gratitude, and engagement, you can counteract the emotional numbness of burnout and rediscover what is fulfilling.
- Person-Centred Therapy for Stress: The non-judgmental, empathetic space of Person-Centred therapy is itself a form of restorative respite. It allows you to process feelings of frustration and failure without pressure, helping you reconnect with your own needs and inner wisdom that may have been sidelined by constant demands.
Taking the First Step Towards Recovery
Acknowledging that you’re burnt out is a sign of self-awareness, not weakness. Taking steps to address it is an act of self-preservation. I offer a free, confidential initial consultation to discuss your experience with stress or burnout, explore your goals for recovery, and see how therapy could support you in building a more sustainable and fulfilling way of living and working.