BURN OUT

A brief look into burnout

 

Burnout isn’t just about being tired or overworked, it’s a state of systemic dysregulation that emerges when a person’s adaptive capacities are chronically overwhelmed. From a trauma-informed lens, burnout is less about poor resilience or lack of coping and more about prolonged survival physiology where the nervous system is stuck in mobilised (fight/flight) or collapsed (freeze/shutdown) states due to ongoing demands that exceed perceived safety or agency.

At its core, burnout reflects a body and mind that have been asked to keep performing without adequate recovery, attunement, or connection. Trauma history sensitises the stress response: what might be manageable for one person becomes destabilising for another when old templates of danger or helplessness are re-activated in the workplace, home, or relationships.

How Burnout Presents Across Multiple Domains

1. Physiological domain:

  • Chronic fatigue, sleep disturbance, headaches, gut dysregulation, hormonal imbalance, and pain syndromes.

  • The autonomic nervous system shows signs of depletion,  alternating hyperarousal (racing heart, tension) and hypoarousal (numbness, exhaustion).

  • The body may lose its natural capacity for self-repair; inflammation and immune suppression often follow.

2. Cognitive domain:

  • Reduced concentration, decision fatigue, forgetfulness, and intrusive self-criticism.

  • The prefrontal cortex,  responsible for planning and perspective-taking, goes offline under chronic stress, leading to tunnel vision and reactivity.

  • A trauma-linked “threat bias” can cause distorted appraisals of others’ intentions or one’s own adequacy.

3. Emotional domain:

  • Emotional blunting, irritability, anxiety, and a sense of futility or dread.

  • Empathy depletion, especially in caregivers or therapists can mirror secondary traumatic stress.

  • Shame often overlays the experience (“I should be coping better”), reinforcing the burnout cycle.

4. Relational domain:

  • Withdrawal, loss of intimacy, cynicism, or over-functioning to maintain connection.

  • Difficulty trusting others’ support or tolerating dependence; a trauma echo of “I can only rely on myself.”

  • Conflict or detachment in work or home relationships as energy narrows toward mere survival.

5. Existential / Identity domain:

  • Loss of meaning, collapse of professional or personal identity, questioning of values or purpose.

  • For trauma survivors, burnout can re-evoke earlier experiences of powerlessness or invisibility- “no one sees how hard I’m trying.”

In therapy, we slow things down. Together we make sense of what’s driving your depletion, how early experiences, self-expectations, and relationships might be shaping how you respond to stress today. This is not about fixing what’s “wrong” with you, but understanding how your system learned to cope and finding kinder, more sustainable ways forward.

We’ll work both emotionally and physiologically: learning to recognise the body’s signals of strain and to reconnect with what helps you feel calm, safe, and alive again. As you begin to listen to those cues, you can start setting limits, expressing needs, and rediscovering what gives you meaning, without the guilt or fear that often come with slowing down.

The aim is to help you move from survival mode to a steadier rhythm of living; one where you feel more regulated, connected, and able to rest in who you are, not just what you do.

Burnout is not simply exhaustion. It’s the end point of a constellation of schemas that drive chronic overextension and self-neglect. Schemas such as unrelenting standards, self-sacrifice, and approval-seeking make rest feel unsafe and boundaries feel like failure. Overwork becomes a coping strategy to manage shame or maintain worth, until the system collapses. Clinically, we recognise burnout through emotional depletion, loss of empathy or motivation, cognitive fog, and a body stuck in threat physiology, signalling that the strategies once used to survive have become unsustainable.

BURNOUT IS A STARE OF EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEPLETION THAT ARISE FROM PROLONGED STRESS AND OVEREXTENSION, OFTEN ROOTED IN CARING HELPING, OR HIGH-PRESSURE ROLES.

IT IS NOT A SIMPLE “TIREDNESS” WEAKNESS OR LACK OF “RESILIENCE”; IT’S THE BODY AND MIND SIGNALLING THAT CHRONIC OVERACTIVATION HAS EXCEEDED CAPACITY. BURNOUT IS A SYSTEMIC AND RELATIONAL ISSUES AS MUCH AS INDIVIDUAL ONE, REFLECTING A PATTERN OF OVER-RESPONSIBILITY, PERFECTIONISM AND UNMET NEEDS FOR RECOGNITION AND SUPPORT.

How I work with burnout, for example:
I begin by helping clients recognise burnout not as failure, but as the body’s wisdom calling for recalibration. Using schema therapy, we explore the internal drivers, such as self-sacrifice, unrelenting standards, or approval-seeking, that make rest feel unsafe. Somatic and polyvagal approaches help restore regulation and reconnect clients to cues of safety, pleasure, and rest. Over time, we build new patterns of boundary-setting, self-compassion, and sustainable productivity that honour both ambition and wellbeing.

Common signs and symptoms of burnout include:

  • Constant fatigue despite resting

  • Loss of motivation, empathy or meaning in relationships

  • Irritability, numbness or tearfulness

  • Cognitive issues such as brain fog or decision fatigue

  • Physical issues such as gut issues, headaches, tension or sleep disturbances

  • Loss of libido

  • A feeling or thought of “I want to stop but I can’t”

  • Feeling detached, cynical or “running on empty”

  • Wanting to be rescued

Get in touch to start the ball rolling

In a sea of different therapists it can be overwhelming to know who to trust. That’s why you can call me for free and chat for 15 minutes. Tell me more about what’s ailing you and ask me how I might work with you.