Therapy offers a place to look at the demands around you and your experience within them. That may include workload, money, caregiving, belonging, relationships, or a sense that you have become distant from your own life.
Understanding what you are experiencing
The World Health Organization describes burnout as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. The word is also used informally for other kinds of exhaustion, which may need a different kind of understanding.
Burnout and depression can overlap. Whether a holiday helps is not a reliable test for depression. Persistent low mood, loss of interest, exhaustion, or changes in functioning deserve an appropriate assessment; medical and other factors may also need attention.
What we might explore
We can pay attention to how pressure enters your life, what it asks of you, and what becomes difficult to notice under it. We can also consider practical conditions. Therapy does not make an unreasonable workload reasonable or decide a job change for you.
Beginning the work
In a consultation, you can describe what has changed and ask about fit, scheduling, and fees. The pace and duration of therapy vary. We review the work together rather than promise recovery on a fixed timeline.
If you are in crisis, call or text 988 in the U.S. For an immediate emergency, call 911. Routine therapy inquiries are not urgent support.
Related reading
Therapy for engineers · Depression support · Graduate student burnout
Sources: WHO on burnout and NIMH on depression. Checked September 7, 2026.