Burnout doesn’t happen all of a sudden. It comes on after weeks of staying late at work, taking care of everyone else, and pushing through the stress and responsibilities. After powering through for so long, you might end up completely depleted, yet unable to rest, and feeling like you’re not performing at your usual level.
I get it. As a therapist, mom, high achiever, and recovering perfectionist, I know how easy it is to get stuck in hustle mode and lose sight of actually enjoying the life you’ve built. Through therapy for burnout in San Diego, I help high-achieving adults understand what’s keeping them stuck, loosen the reins, and find a more sustainable way forward.
Burnout Therapy in San Diego, CA
Burnout Therapy in San Diego, CA
What is burnout?
Burnout is a form of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion caused by chronic stress. It’s often associated with work, but burnout can come from parenting, caregiving, running a business, managing a household, or simply placing too many never-ending expectations on yourself.
Symptoms of burnout at job and workplace
Job burnout usually builds slowly, which can make it hard to recognize until you’re already in it. The most common symptoms of career burnout are physical and mental exhaustion that remains even after sleeping well. But you might also notice yourself:
Becoming more irritable with coworkers, clients, family, or friends.
Dreading work, feeling unmotivated, or procrastinating more often.
Finding it hard to concentrate or forgetting things more often.
Feeling detached or checked out from work and life.
Losing interest in things you normally enjoy.
Making more mistakes than usual, especially on things you usually do well.
Therapy for burnout in San Diego can help before the burnout completely takes over.
What causes burnout?
Burnout isn’t caused by one stressful day. It tends to develop from long-term, unmanaged stress. Burnout can develop from pushing yourself past your limits, not getting enough sleep, or just taking on too much without firm boundaries.
This form of chronic stress can also be caused by perfectionism telling you mistakes are unacceptable. Or it might come from anxiety that has you constantly waiting for something to go wrong, or believing your value comes from being productive.
So while the cause can be unique to you, you keep doing more, taking on more, and putting everyone else’s needs ahead of your own. All of these factors can also contribute to career burnout.
How can burnout therapy in San Diego help?
Burnout treatment in San Diego gives you a space to figure out what’s draining you and why it’s been so difficult to change the pattern. With me, professional burnout therapy isn’t about me telling you to quit your job, lower your standards, or stop caring for others. Instead, burnout therapy can help you figure out what’s causing chronic stress and understand why slowing down may feel uncomfortable.
I can help you set boundaries without spiraling into guilt, reduce anxiety, and feel less responsible for managing everyone and everything. After all, the aim of therapy for burnout in San Diego is to keep what works about being motivated and capable while reducing the anxiety, control, and exhaustion that have become attached to it.
Therapy for job, career, and workplace burnout in San Diego
For many high achievers, work is a major part of their identity, which is what can make job burnout in San Diego particularly confusing. You might genuinely love what you do, but find that the pace is no longer sustainable. Or maybe you worked hard to get where you are and feel guilt admitting you’re unhappy. Therapy for work burnout can give you a place to sort through those feelings without immediately quitting, backing off, or pushing through.
Sometimes that means changing how you approach work. Sometimes it means reconsidering a role or career path. But often, it starts with understanding why your current way of operating feels so difficult to let go of.
My approach to burnout therapy
My approach to burnout counseling in San Diego is collaborative, practical, and deeper than simply giving you a list of stress-management tips. I can help you understand the patterns that may be difficult to see when you’re living inside them. But I also recognize that you’re the expert on your life, so I welcome your feedback, and together we can come up with solutions to help you overcome the obstacles you’re facing.
Depending on what’s contributing to burnout, we may use EMDR to address the difficult experiences and beliefs underlying perfectionism, anxiety, or the need for control. EMDR can be especially useful for clients who have already done some therapy and understand their patterns intellectually but still feel stuck in them.
Meet Allison Barton, burnout therapist in San Diego
I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and EMDR-Certified Therapist who offers therapy for burnout in San Diego. I primarily work with high-achieving, perfectionistic, Type-A adults, including many moms, professionals, business owners, and people in demanding helping roles.
This work is personal to me, as someone who considers herself to be a recovering perfectionist. I understand the pull to keep hustling even when something clearly needs to change. My style is warm but direct. So we can talk about what’s happening, understand why it’s happening, but most importantly, figure out what we can actually do about it.
If you’ve built a beautiful life but feel too burned out to enjoy it, burnout counseling in San Diego can help. Together, we can find a way for you to loosen your grip without giving up the parts of yourself that helped you get here.
FAQs about burnout therapy
Burnout can feel confusing. Maybe you suddenly find yourself moving through your days with little motivation, or feeling utterly, physically exhausted despite getting a full night's sleep. Here, I’ll answer some questions I often hear from clients about burnout and therapy for burnout in San Diego.
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There’s really no “best” therapy for burnout. What works for one person may not work for another. Burnout therapy with me is about finding the approach that fits you, rather than the burnout. We might focus on addressing stress, strengthening boundaries, or identifying the beliefs that drive overwork.
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Some signs of burnout might include physical and mental fatigue that doesn’t seem to go away, lack of motivation, cynicism, and feeling less effective than usual. You might also have a difficult time concentrating, feel anxious or irritable, or find yourself working harder but accomplishing less.
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The length of time therapy for burnout in San Diego takes varies from person to person and situation to situation. It can depend on what’s contributing to the burnout and what you want to work on. Some people primarily deal with current workplace stress, while others want to address longstanding patterns involving perfectionism or trauma. We can discuss your goals and regularly check whether therapy is moving in a useful direction.
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You might consider seeing a therapist for burnout in San Diego if the chronic stress is affecting your work, relationships, mood, or ability to enjoy life. Therapy can give you a place to understand what’s driving the pattern and develop realistic ways to change it.
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The cost of burnout treatment in San Diego can vary widely depending on the therapist’s credentials, session length, and whether you’re using insurance or paying privately. My current rates for 45-minute individual therapy sessions are $225. I do not work with insurance providers, which means I don’t bill them directly and the full fee is collected at the end of each session. However, if you have out-of-network benefits, I can provide superbills for you to submit for potential reimbursement.