You may know the feeling. Outwardly you’re managing, showing up, keeping pace. But inside, something has thinned. Rest doesn’t seem to restore you. You wake without energy, carry on with a smile, yet feel strangely absent from your own life.
For many of the people who come to us for therapy in Wimbledon and Queens Park, this is the point at which they realise they’re not just stressed, they’re burnt out. And burnout doesn’t always arrive with a crash. Often, it creeps in quietly.
When Rest Stops Working
Stress usually eases with time off, a holiday, or a good night’s sleep. Burnout is different. It lingers, cuts deeper, and disrupts the very things that help you feel alive: joy, focus, connection, hope.
The World Health Organization describes burnout as a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that arises from chronic stress and emotional exhaustion, most commonly in work or caring roles (WHO, 2019). In therapy, we see it in parents, professionals, students, and people who carry invisible burdens of perfectionism or responsibility (BACP, 2025).
It doesn’t shout. It withdraws. Your mind keeps moving forward while your heart quietly drifts away.
What Burnout Looks Like
Some of the common signs include:
- A hollow sense of numbness or detachment
- Irritability, cynicism, or harsh self-blame
- Emotional over-sensitivity – or shutting down altogether
- The uneasy sense of being “always on,” even in supposed downtime
- The body reacting to repeated overload in its own way – the list spans from Chronic fatigue to migraines, tension pains, disturbed sleep, weakened immune system, digestive problems, panic attacks, dizziness and fainting, skin problems, and heart-related problems.
These are not flaws or weaknesses. They are warning lights: signals that the balance between your inner needs and outer demands has tipped too far.
Why Apps and Quick Fixes Fall Short
Digital reminders and self-help strategies can provide structure and inspiration. But when the roots of burnout lie in deeper places – family history, shame, identity, or the silent weight of being unseen – an app can only skim the surface (Harvard Health).
Human connection is different. Therapy isn’t about data tracking or pushing for performance. It’s about being recognised, not scanned. Understood, not fixed.
The Value of Being Met
People often tell us they’ve already tried everything before starting therapy – productivity hacks, lifestyle plans, mindfulness apps. What shifted things wasn’t a new trick, but the experience of being met by another person.
Therapy offers what burnout strips away: empathy, safety, reflection, relationship. In that space, it becomes possible to notice the underlying drivers – self-neglect, inherited pressures, impossible standards—and slowly to re-align.
Therapy doesn’t “cure” you. But it provides the conditions for rest, repair, and change.
Beginning Again, Slowly
Recovering from burnout is gradual. It unfolds in layers, often within the context of a supportive relationship. Some first steps might include:
- Naming the ways you’ve been pushing past your limits
- Paying attention to moments when you feel emotionally absent
- Allowing yourself to reach out before crisis point
- Exploring with a therapist the hidden patterns that have kept you running on empty
It doesn’t have to be carried alone.
If You’re Unsure
Perhaps you recognise yourself in these words but still wonder if therapy is right for you. Burnout often comes with doubt: the nagging sense that you “should” cope better, that reaching out means weakness.
At The Village Clinic, we see it differently. That hollow space inside is not proof of failure. It’s evidence of how much you’ve held. Therapy can be a place to set it down – for a while – to breathe, to remember your own voice, and to rediscover that something more is possible.
If this article speaks to you, we welcome you to contact us for a confidential consultation.
Written by Veronika Kloucek, Senior Psychotherapist, Trainer, Supervisor, and founder of The Village Clinic with support from AI tools for grammar and clarity. All editorial ideas and authorship remain fully human.
References & Suggested Reading
- World Health Organization (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: ICD classification.
- Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111.
- Pines, A., & Aronson, E. (1998). Career Burnout: Causes and Cures. Free Press.
- Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score. Penguin Books.
- Schore, A. N. (2003). Affect Dysregulation and Disorders of the Self. W. W. Norton.
- Neff, K. (2011). Self-Compassion. William Morrow.
- Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional Intelligence. Bantam Books.
- Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and Recovery. Basic Books.
- BACP. Understanding burnout and mental health.
- NICE. Guidance on common mental health problems and talking therapies.