What is burnout and how do you cope with it?

What is burnout?

Burnout is when we are emotionally and mentally exhausted due to prolonged stress. It can lead us to feeling a loss of motivation and interest and reduces our productivity. This can affect our mood, leaving us feeling anxious and low. Burnout can affect many areas of our life, such as at work, home or in our social life. Read on to see how to recognise and manage the symptoms of burnout.

Do you recognise any of the symptoms of burnout below?

• Feeling like a failure
• Doubting yourself
• Feeling helpless
• Feeling lonely
• Lack of motivation
• Withdrawing from others
• Procrastinating or avoiding tasks
• Using food or alcohol to cope
• Being snappy with others.
• Feeling tired
• Muscle pain
• Change in sleep
• Change in appetite
• More frequent illness

Causes of burnout

Do you recognise any of the below causes, as a reason why you may be feeling burnt out?

• Non-stimulating or overly demanding work
• High pressure work environment
• Working beyond your hours or capability
• Not getting enough sleep
• Not enough time spent with friends and family as you’d like
• Too many responsibilities to juggle
• Wanting to make things perfect but failing to achieve this.
• Needing control over situations, which is unattainable.

If you are experiencing burnout, what can you do about it?

Firstly, you need to recognise that you are burning out. Notice the signs and causes of burnout and commit to making some changes.

Secondly, we need to find some ways to manage the stress in a practical way. Can you problem solve the situation? You can follow the steps in the worksheet by GetSelfHelp below. Here is access to the sheet for you to download.

Using the sheet, you can work out possible solutions to problems, weigh up the pros and cons of different solutions and choose the best one to implement. You may need to reach out to others for help in solving problems too. Within this step, you may also need to take some time off or take a short break from things.

Thirdly, you want to try and keep your stress levels low going forward. You could do this by:

• Spending quality time with friends and family 
• Find balance in your schedule – ensure you have time for activities that give you a sense of achievement, closeness to others and enjoyment. You want to make sure you fill your time with activities you value. You can read more about this concept here.
• Reducing procrastination – there are some great tips here on the CCI website
• Set boundaries, e.g. with your time. Often our stress can come when our boundaries are pushed.
• Practice relaxation or mindfulness – youtube has some good links to try out, or you can try apps like Headspace or Smiling Mind.
• Set aside time to sleep – you might find it useful to follow some sleep hygiene tips from the CCI website, which you can find here.
• Exercise regularly – it has benefits for your mind and body.
• Watch your diet – e.g. reducing alcohol or nicotine can help to alleviate feelings of depression or anxiety. Watch out for high carb or sugary foods which we tend to read for when stressed, but can lead to a crash in our mood later.

Get in touch for further support

If you are interested in using our service to manage burnout, we provide CBT and psychotherapy. Please don’t hesitate to contact us using the enquiry form below (or scroll down for further self-help resources):

Get in touch to discuss your counselling needs
and find the right therapist for you

Please fill in the details below, then press ‘submit the form’. Our Clinic Manager, Rhianna, will review the form and be in touch via email within 1 working day to discuss her recommendations. If we can help, we will provide you with a link to book an assessment with the most appropriate therapist.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

Thank you for your enquiry. The Clinical Director will get back to you with recommendations, via email within 1 working day (note we are closed weekends and bank holidays). Do check your junk inbox if you do not receive it within this time, and feel free to email us info@brighterlifetherapy.co.uk. Thank you.

Name(required)

Email (Please do not use a Yahoo or AOL email as they are sometimes not accepting emails from some Outlook addresses)(required)

Phone number(required)

Who is this therapy for (e.g. yourself, your daughter, etc)(required)

Age of client(required)

Main reasons for therapy – please provide an overview of what has been happening(required)

Do you have a preference of days or times (e.g. Mondays, afternoons, etc) or can you be flexible? Please note, we are not open weekends or bank holidays.(required)

Please add details of your insurance provider if they will cover your therapy, if applicable. (Note we mainly only accept WPA and Cigna insurance providers, except Sarah and Anjali who do accept Aviva too). Please put ‘n/a’ if not applicable.(required)

Please detail any previous therapy experiences. Please put ‘n/a’ if not applicable.(required)

How did you hear about us? (If through another professional, please state their name)(required)

Which type of therapy would you ideally like?

CBT

Psychotherapy

Either

Do you have a particular therapist in mind? (Note, a recommendation of this therapist is subject to their availability, and we may suggest that another therapist has more relevant training/experience to support you)

Please tick to confirm that you are aware that all of our therapy sessions are remote (via zoom, google meet, or phone calls) and sessions are priced between £90-125 each, depending on the type of treatment and whether sessions are block-booked and pre-paid for Full price list is here.. (required)

Would you like to be added to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date with offers and new blogs? Please tick if yes.

By submitting your information, you’re giving us permission to email you.

SubmitSubmitting form

Δ

Join our mailing list

You can also follow us on our Instagram and Facebook for more information and mental health discussions. Or sign up to our mailing list to follow our blogs and offers, below:

Join our mailing list

Get new blog content delivered directly to your inbox, including a free resource to boost your self-esteem that includes a quiz and a CBT technique.

You’ll also be the first to hear about new blog articles, resources, tips, advice, offers and updates on our service including our widely anticipated self-paced online courses which cost the fraction of 1:1 therapy.

Just pop your email in the box below, and don’t forget to check your junk inbox it it doesn’t arrive soon.

Join my e-mail listSubmitting form

By clicking submit, you agree to share your e-mail address with the site owner and MailChimp to receive marketing, updates, and other e-mails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those e-mails to opt out at any time.