if you’re feeling exhausted and sluggish, and even simple tasks feel overwhelming to complete — or you find yourself so stressed out that you’re quick to get angry or frustrated — you might be experiencing burnout.

As a psychologist counseling many clients, I’ve seen burnout become incredibly common. “We’re living in an stressful time, and burnout is incredibly prevalent,” I often say. “I am seeing a lot of people who are very tired – physically, emotionally tired.”

While frequently associated with a stressful job, burnout can affect many areas of your life and even cause health problems. Thankfully, there are ways you can cope and overcome this often-debilitating state.

I share the major symptoms of burnout and provide some tips on how I coach clients to recover.

What is Burnout? Burnout can be difficult to describe. However, it’s not a medical condition. According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, burnout is defined as “physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance and negative attitudes towards oneself and others.”

You may not realize you’ve hit burnout until it’s too late when you’ve crossed the line between “really tired” and “too exhausted to function.” I see people that are used to going 100 miles an hour, and don’t recognize they need to slow down.

Burnout also happens when your work-life balance gets out of sync. This has been more common with remote work and technology stress. I’m seeing people have a very difficult time balancing personal life and work – it’s extremely difficult. Add in COVID uncertainty, and people’s reserves are depleted.

Signs of Burnout I often coach clients on recognizing burnout symptoms, which can be physical, mental and emotional. Major signs include:

• Fatigue
• Feeling apathetic about work
• Headaches
• Changes in diet or sleep

Burnout vs Depression The symptoms can resemble more serious conditions like depression. However, there are differences:

• Depression is diagnosable while burnout is situational
• Removing burnout triggers helps, unlike depression
• Depression is broad while burnout pins to certain stressors

What To Do If You Have Burnout
Recognizing burnout is the first step. From there:

• Seek therapy
• Take breaks and check in with yourself
• Exercise and practice mindfulness
• Establish a routine
• Set work-life boundaries
• Explore new hobbies

Building back balance and self-care helps overcome burnout’s exhaustion. Communicating needs and finding purpose again renews energy. With some work, you can recover and avoid future burnout.

I hope these tips help you or your loved ones facing burnout. Let me know if you have any other questions!

All the best, Achim Menges