Burnout

Burnout: Finding Your Way Back to Balance and Purpose

Burnout isn’t just being tired. It’s a profound state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that occurs when the demands of work, school, parenting, or even social interactions consistently outweigh your resources to cope. You may feel depleted, cynical, and disconnected from the things that once brought you satisfaction. The exhaustion penetrates deeply—rest or a vacation might offer temporary relief, but returning to the same situation recreates the same overwhelming feelings.

I understand this experience personally. Like many people, I’ve faced situations where no amount of weekend recovery could restore my energy, because the underlying circumstances remained unchanged. The good news is that effective, evidence-based therapies can help you not only recover from burnout but also develop skills to prevent it from recurring.

Understanding What Keeps Burnout Going

Burnout typically develops gradually through accumulated workplace or life stressors rather than happening overnight. Common symptoms include emotional exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishment, feeling ineffective, loss of motivation, cynicism toward your responsibilities, and difficulty finding joy in activities that once energized you. When burnout takes hold, it can affect your mental and physical health, relationships, and overall quality of life.

Evidence-Based Approaches to Treating Burnout

Research has identified several therapeutic approaches with strong evidence for treating burnout:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT has the most robust research support among burnout treatments. This structured approach helps you identify and change the thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to burnout. Rather than focusing extensively on what caused burnout initially, CBT therapists concentrate on understanding what maintains the problem and disrupting those cycles.

In CBT for burnout, we work together to:

  • Assess your specific symptoms and triggers
  • Identify cognitive distortions such as catastrophizing or all-or-nothing thinking
  • Challenge unhelpful thought patterns that perpetuate exhaustion
  • Develop more adaptive coping strategies
  • Set achievable goals and practice skills between sessions

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills

DBT is an approach that combines acceptance and change strategies, originally developed for emotional dysregulation but increasingly applied to help people manage the intense emotions and overwhelming stress of burnout. DBT emphasizes that you can accept where you are now while also working toward positive change—both can be true at the same time.

DBT teaches four core skill areas that are particularly helpful for burnout:

  • Mindfulness: Practicing present-moment awareness to observe your thoughts and feelings without being overwhelmed by them, helping you step back from burnout-related stress
  • Distress Tolerance: Learning techniques to manage emotional distress in crisis moments, including distraction, self-soothing, and accepting situations you cannot immediately change
  • Emotion Regulation: Understanding and managing intense emotions like frustration, resentment, and exhaustion that accompany burnout
  • Interpersonal Effectiveness: Building skills to communicate your needs, set boundaries, maintain self-respect, and balance others’ demands with your own wellbeing

These practical skills help you respond more effectively to the situations that contribute to burnout rather than feeling helpless or overwhelmed.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT represents a newer approach within cognitive behavioral therapies that has shown promising results for reducing burnout across various professional groups. Rather than focusing solely on changing thoughts, ACT emphasizes increasing psychological flexibility—the ability to stay present with difficult thoughts and emotions while taking action aligned with your values.

In ACT, we work to:

  • Explore and clarify your core values
  • Practice being present with challenging experiences without avoiding them
  • Develop self-compassion and mindfulness skills
  • Take committed action toward what matters most, even when facing obstacles
  • Reduce the power of difficult thoughts and feelings to control your behavior

Meaning-Centered Therapy

Meaning-centered therapy is a structured, time-limited approach originally developed for people facing serious illness but increasingly applied to burnout. This approach, based on Viktor Frankl’s work, helps you reconnect with sources of meaning in your life.

This therapy helps you:

  • Rediscover what gives your life significance and purpose
  • Find meaning through relationships, creativity, and experiences
  • Develop a meaningful attitude toward unavoidable challenges
  • Buffer against stress by maintaining a sense of purpose
  • Reconnect with values when burnout has left you feeling empty

Stress Management and Coping Skills Training

Beyond specific therapeutic approaches, effective treatment often includes practical stress management techniques. We work together to identify which coping strategies serve you well and which may actually perpetuate burnout.

Together we’ll:

  • Recognize disadvantages of current coping strategies
  • Develop new approaches such as seeking support, exercise, and meditation
  • Build practical skills for managing daily stressors
  • Create sustainable routines that protect your wellbeing
  • Establish healthy boundaries in work and personal relationships

A Personalized Approach

In our work together, I draw from these evidence-based approaches to create a treatment plan tailored to your specific situation. We’ll explore what’s maintaining your burnout, identify your values and priorities, challenge unhelpful thinking patterns, build mindfulness skills, and develop practical strategies for creating sustainable change. Whether your burnout stems from work demands, parenting responsibilities, school pressures, or other life circumstances, we’ll address both the symptoms you’re experiencing and the underlying patterns contributing to your exhaustion.

Recovery from burnout isn’t just about resting more—it’s about understanding what drives your depletion, developing new skills for managing stress, reconnecting with what matters to you, and making meaningful changes that allow you to thrive rather than just survive.

Effective treatment can help you feel calmer, more confident, and more in control of your life. I invite you to reach out to discuss how we can work together toward the relief you’re seeking. Phone: 410-970-4917; Email: edgewaterpsychotherapy@gmail.com; I look forward to hearing from you and helping you on your journey toward greater peace and wellbeing.