What is Burnout?

Therapy Articles
Written By Claire Law

Burnout:

A state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.

Stress and sustained pressure take their toll. Whilst it’s possible to cope with feeling stretched in the short term, over the long term, you're at risk of burnout. In this first blog in a series of posts, we’ll look at what burnout is, who it affects and what the signs and symptoms of burnout involve. Other blogs will explore how to take preventative action to avoid burnout and how to recover from burnout.  I’ve also written a stand-alone article on the theme of neurodivergent burnout, aimed at anyone concerned about autistic burnout or ADHD burnout.

Burnout:  No fuel left in the tank

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.  A vehicle’s fuel tank is a good analogy here. If you’re driving for too long, too fast without stopping to re-fuel, eventually your vehicle grinds to a halt. You need to take time to locate a service station, and then fill the tank before you carry on. For many people, the various stresses and strains of life mean that they’re driving too fast, for too long. That’s not sustainable in the long-term and places you at risk of burnout. Burnout is the result of too many demands, faced for too long, when there’s insufficient resources to meet these demands.

It’s worth mentioning that burnout can also involve the slow and almost imperceptible depletion of energy and resources to cope with the pressures upon us. We can think of burnout as also being about a hole in the fuel tank. Without remedial action to stem the flow, there’s a gradual leaking of fuel from the tank which, eventually, results in the vehicle grinding to a halt. 

Running on Empty

If you don’t stop to fill your tank regularly, you’re at risk of burnout.

What is burnout?

Burnout was first identified and described in 1970s by clinical psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, in his study of nurses.  He noticed that pressures of work led nurses to become depleted and deflated. Affected medical staff began to show signs of disengagement, feelings of helplessness and emotional exhaustion. Since then, burnout has been widely recognised as a health condition that impacts significant numbers of people every year.  The ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision) includes burnout as a diagnosable health condition resulting from continuous and long-term stress exposure.  And the World Health Organization recognises burnout as an ‘occupational phenomenon’. 

Burnout affects our whole being. We can think of it as a global or holistic condition - we’re imapcted emotionally, physically and mentally. Most people experience a combination of mental, physical and emotional symptoms which then impacts their behaviour. Severe exhaustion, feeling cut off and detatched from others, and feeling they have no hopeless and cynical are all classic signs of burnout. Signs of burnout encompass multiple spheres of life.  Let’s look at some of the different signs and symptoms associated with burnout:

Emotional symptoms of burnout:

Emotional symptoms or indicators of burnout include:

  • Depressed mood

  • Irritability

  • Sense of hopelessness

  • Disillusionment

  • Feeling cynical

  • Lack of interest or enjoyment, even when engaging in things you once loved doing

  • Detachment

  • Resentment

  • Persistent feelings of dread, worry and anxiety

Physical symptoms of burnout:

Physical symptoms or indicators of burnout include:

  • Feeling tired, drained or exhausted no matter how much sleep you’ve had

  • Rundown

  • Sleep problems

  • Muscle tension

  • Headaches

  • Stomach complaints

  • Frequent colds and viruses due to lowered immunity.

Mental symptoms of burnout:

Burnout also impacts us mentally. Mental symptoms or indicators of burnout include:

  • Finding it hard to concentrate

  • Procrastinating

  • Feeling indecisive

  • Self-doubt, viewing yourself as a failure

  • Intrusive imagery of work-related issues 

  • Finding it difficult to get a sense of perspective

Behavioural symptoms of burnout:

Burnout also impacts how we behave and act. Behavioural symptoms or indicators of burnout include:

  • Acting on autopilot

  • Impaired practice or managing to get less done in more time

  • Making mistakes

  • Jumpy / restless

  • Greater use of alcohol / other drugs

  • Isolating self from friends and family

  • Neglecting basic self-care and hygeine

  • Arriving late for work

  • Getting cross, irritable or short with others: taking out your frustrations on others.

Burnout

The signs and symptoms of burnout can be mental, physical, emotional and behavioural.

Your brain on burnout

Your brain’s equipped to respond to short bursts of periods of stress. Pressure prompts the release of adrenaline and cortisol, heling you to perform. That’s useful when you need take prompt action in response to a stressor. Your brain is equipping you to stay alert in the face of challenge.

However, when pressure and stress are prolonged, your brain floods with cortisol and you remain for far too long in a flight or fight state, on high alert and without sufficient respite.  In time, your brain begins to struggle to produce cortisol leading to adrenal fatigue.  The prolonged drip-drip effect of sustained pressure and demands mean your brain becomes less efficient at regulating your stress response and you begin to feel less equipped to manage stress. Small things begin to feel like a “big deal”.  We label this experience “burnout”.    

Who’s at risk of burnout? 

Perhaps you’re asking yourself, “am I at risk of burnout”? It can be helpful to consider who is at risk of burnout, as awareness of this means you can take preventative action. The short answer is, anyone and everyone is at risk of burnout. Modern life is stressful and there’s a great deal of pressure on most people. According to a recent You.Gov survey commissioned by the charity Mental Health UK. 91% of UK adults report that they experienced high or extreme levels of pressure or stress in the past year and with one in five workers needed time off work in the last year due to sustained stress and pressure (Mental Health UK, 2025). If we drill down further into the results of the Burnout Report (Mental Health UK, 2025), we see that 94% of females reported experiencing high or extreme levels of pressure or stress in the past year, compared to 89% of males. Adults aged 35-44 were the age group most likely to have experienced high or extreme levels of stress in the last year.

Other research (Batanda, 2024) suggests that people working in caring professions are at increased risk of burnout. Those employed in roles where the work involves a significant degree of interpersonal contact and exposure to other people’s suffering are at greater risk of burnout. Such people can begin to experience “compassion fatigue” where the cost of being caring and compassionate begins to take a toll.  That means people engaged in “high touch” (as opposed to high tech) employment are at greatest risk of burnout. Social workers, teachers, medical professionals, carers (paid and unpaid), police, firefighters, aid workers, counsellors, members of the clergy…. the list goes on.  Anyone in these roles is at increased risk of burnout.

Charles Figley, a key researcher in this area speaks about the “cost of caring”: the empathy and compassion that make people in caring roles so good at their job is what can lead to burnout in the long-term (Figley, 1995). And, its not just working with people in caring roles that places us at increased risk of burnout, vets and vetinary nurses are also at risk, as people who work with animals are at risk of burnout too. Figley writes of “the deep physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion that can result from working day to day in an intense caregiving environment” in his book about the impact of caring for animals upon humans (Figley & Roop, 2006).

Finally, its important to note that being neurodivergent can increase your chance of suffering from burnout. If you’re autistic, ADHD, dyslexic, dyspraxic, or are neurodivergent in another way, then you are likely to face additional stress and pressure as a result of:

  • Masking

  • Feeling under pressure to socially camouflage

  • Adapting to an environment that is set up for neurotypical people and is unaccommodating to neurodivergent people.

We know that autistic burnout is commonly experienced by autistic people and is associated with significant, negative consequences for mental health, wellbeing, and quality of life (Mantzalas, et al., 2022). You can read more about my thoughts on neurodivergent burnout here.

The cost of caring

People who work in caring professions are at increased risk of burnout and compassion fatigue.

Burnout….. so what?

We’ve explored what burnout is, the signs and symptoms of burnout and who is at risk of burnout. So, how can you use this information to help you? 

Awareness is a powerful tool, and being more aware of burnout allows you to take preventative action. In our next blog, we’ll explore actions you can take to protect yourself from burnout. And, you might also like to check out the final blog with some practical self-help strategies you can employ to help manage and recover from burnout. You may also be interested in my stand alone article on neurodivergent burnout.

It’s important to note that many people seek therapy to explore their relationship with burnout - either because they recognise they want to avoid burnout and want to use therapy to embed some self-care preventative approaches to burnout. Perhaps they recognise they are in a burnout state and want to explore ways through and beyond burnout. If you’d like to get in touch to explore how therapy can help you avoid and recover from burnout, please do make contact. As someone who has experienced (and recovered from) burnout themselves, I’d be glad to support you in finding your own route out of burnout if you feel you are impacted.

References:

Claire Law
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