What it is:
Burnout is a term often used to describe the overwhelming mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion that can happen when dealing with life stressors over a significant period of time. It often involves emotional and physical exhaustion; detachment, cynicism, and/or pessimism; and feelings of self-doubt, ineffectiveness, or a general lack of accomplishment. Though burnout is not a disorder in and of itself, the effects of burnout are often significant, distressing, and, when untreated, can begin to look a lot like a more traditional mental health disorder. Burnout most often looks like (or can eventually become) an anxiety, mood, or post-traumatic disorder (e.g., PTSD).
Do any of these things sound familiar?
- “There’s not enough time in the day”
- “I’m dropping balls left and right”
- “It’s too much”
- “I don’t have any more to give anyone”
- “I just can’t”
- “I don’t even know what I like anymore”
- “No matter what I do, I still feel exhausted”
- “I feel like I’m letting everyone down”
- “There has to be more to life than this”
- “If I can just ___________, things will get easier”
Burnout Themes:
Burnout can be caused by or affect many different areas of your life, though we tend to see it show up in at least three key areas (and you may experience more than one!):
Professional Burnout: the cause and/or effect of burnout shows up related to your job. This is particularly common if you have a high stress and/or low autonomy profession. To learn more about Professional Burnout, click here.
Relational Burnout: the cause and/or effect of burnout shows up in relationships. This can include romantic relationships, friendships, or familial relationships. It is particularly common if you experience high-conflict relationships, high-need relationships, or feel unsuccessful in obtaining the kinds of relationships you want in your life (e.g., feel isolated or lonely). To learn more about Relational Burnout, click here.
Caregiver Burnout: the cause and/or effect of burnout shows up in specific relationships where you are in the role of caregiver. This most often includes parenting, attending to an ailing family member or friend, or occupying a community role where you provide significant support to others.
Burnout Symptoms:
The effects of burnout, much like the causes, are variable and may be individual. Common themes include impacts on our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors:
Emotions: The emotional impact of burnout can include both intensifying emotions, as well as a sense of disconnection from our emotions. When emotions are intensified, we often see increases in anxiety, sensitivity to criticism or rejection (shame), over-responsibility for our and others’ behaviors (guilt), and a grief process (particularly when the environment isn’t what we thought it would be). When emotions hit a breaking point, folks may experience a lack of emotional engagement and report things like disconnection, feeling numb, or experiencing largely physical manifestations of emotions (e.g., fatigue or exhaustion, irritation or agitation, or exacerbation of chronic pain).
Thoughts or Beliefs: The cognitive impact of burnout can include increasingly rigid beliefs, as well as decreases in our sense of control and competence. When beliefs become rigid, we tend to see narratives we developed from childhood, trauma, or past experiences reduce our ability to problem solve, think creatively, or change directions. This can present as unhelpful mindsets like perfectionism or imposter syndrome, unhelpful thought patterns such as obsessions or ruminations, and/or overly critical self-talk. Over time, these thought patterns can reduce our belief in our (or others) ability to change and lead to hopelessness, helplessness, or a sense that we are ineffective, incompetent, or unable to do anything right.
Behaviors or Habits: The more burned out we become, the less cognitive or emotional energy we have to try to change our habits or patterns of behavior. As a result, we tend to over-rely on low energy or low effort strategies that often create temporary relief, but no real long-term change. This often includes a combination of trying to do what we are already doing better or more efficiently (“doubling down”) or attempting to emotionally or cognitively disengage from the burnout process through the use of low effort coping. Low effort coping includes low effort distraction (e.g., scrolling on your phone), low effort pleasure-seeking (e.g., impulsive sex, psychoactive substances, or risk taking), or low effort numbing (e.g., alcohol or comfort food).
Specialty Services at TAP:
Below are a list of empirically supported assessments or therapies that one or more of our specialists could provide. Click on an intervention to learn more!