How to tell if you actually have burnout, explained by a therapist

Work can be stressful, as can events in your personal life. But if that stress is starting to cause noticeable symptoms, or constantly leaving you feeling drained, you could be dealing with the big B: burnout.

So, how can you really tell if you have burnout? And, if you are burnt out, what can you do? For an episode of the podcast Instant Genius, we spoke to Dr Sarah Boss – a psychotherapist and clinical director at The Balance, a mental health clinic and rehab centre – to answer these questions and more.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What actually causes burnout?

Burnout started to be used regarding an overload of work. Essentially, feeling so stressed over a long period of time that chronic syndromes emerge, along with many symptoms that change from person to person.

Workplace burnout is the type that is often studied and researched where people have too much pressure, don't get any reward at work, or they're in highly demanding or boring jobs.

But it can also be an overload in the family or a social environment. Carers, for example, have an immense overload and have the same kind of symptoms we see in office burnout. And then it can also come from being under-challenged or feeling neglected. It is too much or too little stimuli that results in symptoms occurring.

Woman crouching down in despair with head on her knees — Credit: Kathrin Ziegler

What is happening in the brain and body when we experience burnout?

It’s a reaction in our nervous system, and it depends on how well we cope with stressors and how we take care of ourselves when life becomes hard.

Stress is a positive thing, it helps us to perform in exams, and to feel motivated or focused when we need to be. But then the natural thing would be for the stressful period to end. This curve of increasing cortisol would go down again and we go back into the restorative state of the parasympathetic nervous system.

If that doesn’t happen, and you become stuck in a state of ongoing stress, then we can develop these burnout syndromes.

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How can someone tell the difference between burnout and regular stress, or other experiences like anxiety or depression?

The key thing to focus on is this restorative state. If you’re not finding relaxation, or it takes a long time to disconnect, that’s an easy way to notice burnout in your life.

Equally, changes in your behaviour, like not wanting to do activities that you find enjoyable or spending time with your loved ones and friends.

As soon as we notice these differences, or notice these troubles with shutting off and relaxing, these are signs of burnout. You’ll notice an increased heart rate and pulse, or a good indicator is continued lack of sleep.

Symptoms can often overlap with mental health issues, but it is important to look at the cause. Burnout always has a cause and a reason you’ve got to this point. There isn’t usually a single reason for something like anxiety or depression.

Are certain people more likely to experience burnout?

Your personality traits can play a role in burnout. Perfectionists, or high achievers are more likely to struggle with it. If someone grew up in a house where there was a lot of pressure to perform, these people are going to be more prone.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, people that don’t have a lot of resources or awareness of their body and health, they’re also at risk because they might not notice what’s going on, or know how to deal with stress properly.

Are younger people more likely to experience burnout and is it more common or do we just hear about it more?

Every generation has its challenges, but this generation has completely new ones. With the pandemic, job uncertainty and a rapidly changing office experience, young workers are experiencing a lot of stress.

Social media plays a big part in it. It generates so much insecurity and stress on a daily basis. They are processing so much information that they have to process each day. It’s not just your work or social life, but also your online life causing this stress.

You’re not able to disconnect and there are these fears of missing out. We are all human beings, and it is so hard for young people to disconnect when they have grown up in this digital world.

If you look at the world, it is more stressful now than ever, because no generation has had to process so much information. Yes, we can’t compare to previous generations who had major problems and traumas, but it is a different type now.

In the past, there was stability and safety. You had a certain job that many kept their whole lives, but now many young people will change jobs multiple times, some jobs that were available a few years ago don’t exist anymore. These constant stressors really do play a role.

There is more awareness of burnout now, for sure. But we also simply understand how it works more now than ever. We don’t call it 'anxiety' now that we understand it is something separate, just because the symptoms are similar.

Luckily, there is far more support for these types of problems now than there has been in the past. Burnout is maybe more prevalent today simply because of the insecure times we are living in.

What's the best way to deal with burnout?

It is important to understand what is going on so you can get the whole process. You should look at how you can resolve the deep-rooted issues that are causing it, whether that is at work or in your personal life. Potentially, this could involve a coach or a therapist who can help coach you through it.

Therapy could also help us work on personality traits that play a role in burnout. Things like perfectionism or experiences in the past that have led us to put an importance on our performance.

It could be worth having a checkup by a GP to see how the body and nervous system are already reacting to it, and then see where you need to change. Do you need to sleep more, get more exercise, or maybe start meditating or practising mindfulness? Just 10 minutes of meditation per day can significantly decrease stress, workplace or otherwise.

Some people find ways to address burnout that are more problematic in the long run, for example, abusing substances. These problems need to be addressed before the burnout itself is dealt with.

It’s also really important to keep an eye out for our friends and family. If you notice observable differences in a person, they could be struggling with burnout without knowing. Speak to them and let them know so they can address these problems.