CAROLINE POWERS, LMHC, LPC
Therapy for Burnout, Perfectionism, and Over-Functioning
Burnout is not just a phase. If you are exhausted, numb, or quietly resentful and cannot point to a single reason why, you may be experiencing burnout.
Book a ConsultationUnderstanding burnout
What is burnout?
Burnout is a state of exhaustion that builds when stress goes on too long without relief, often bringing mental distance from your work and a sense that you are less effective than you used to be.
The term burnout comes from psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, who described it in the 1970s after observing volunteer staff at a free clinic, himself included, become depleted by the demands of their work (Freudenberger, 1974, 1975). He characterized it as a syndrome of exhaustion that follows excessive demands on a person's energy and resources, often alongside irritability, sleeplessness, cynicism, and emotional depletion.
Today, the World Health Organization describes burnout as a syndrome that arises when workplace stress becomes chronic and goes unmanaged, and classifies it as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition.
In my practice, however, burnout can manifest beyond just paid work. Caregiving, parenting, and being the person everyone else relies on can burn you out in exactly the same way.
Burnout is not a personal failing or a diagnosis of your character. It is what happens when the demands of your life run, for long enough, past the limits you are able to protect.
In my work, perfectionism and burnout often travel together: a standard that can never quite be met keeps the pressure on, and rest starts to feel like something that must be earned.
What to notice
Signs of burnout
- 01Exhaustion that doesn't improve with sleep or a weekend off
- 02Feeling emotionally drained or depleted
- 03A short fuse, or resentment toward others
- 04Getting sick more often, or physical symptoms with no clear cause
- 05Feeling numb, detached, or like you're watching your life from the outside
- 06A sense that you're performing competence rather than actually feeling it
You're not imagining it, and you're not the only one who's handling everything while slowly running out of gas.
I'm a high achiever. How can I be burned out?
Capable people are not protected from burnout, and capability can hide the cost. You can keep meeting every expectation for a long time while the exhaustion builds underneath. The signs that are easiest to miss are described in High-Functioning Burnout: The Signs Nobody Warns You About.
What can happen if burnout continues?
Burnout can affect health over time. In long-term studies, it has predicted later depressive symptoms and physical conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes (Salvagioni et al., 2017), and is associated with anxiety (Koutsimani et al., 2019). While correlation does not prove causation, these links are a reason to take burnout seriously.
How I work
We don't start by telling you to meditate more or set a boundary you're not ready to set. I approach burnout as a pattern with a history, not a scheduling problem. We start by understanding what the over-functioning was protecting you from, because it was protecting you from something, and it likely worked very well for a long time. Using a psychodynamic lens, we look at how it developed: where the pressure to hold everything together began, what it has protected you from, and what it has cost.
We then build your capacity to rest, say no, and take up space without the guilt or the anxiety that used to make those things feel unsafe. I draw on CBT, DBT, ACT, somatic, and mindfulness tools to change how it plays out day to day. The work is trauma-informed and paced to what feels sustainable. Over time, that looks like real rest instead of collapse, relationships that don't require you to disappear, and a version of capable that doesn't cost you your body or your sense of self.
Sessions take place online for clients in New York and Connecticut, with in-person sessions in Manhattan coming soon.
A note on your health
Persistent exhaustion can have medical causes, such as thyroid disorders, anemia, or diabetes, so if rest has not helped after two weeks or more, consult your doctor (Mayo Clinic). Burnout and depression can also occur together (Koutsimani et al., 2019), which is one reason a professional evaluation is worth having. If you are having thoughts of suicide or of harming yourself, call, text, or chat 988 at any hour, at no cost. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.