Stress and Burnout
It is probably not that your discipline ran out. It is that your recovery did.
Stress and burnout work for people whose job does not slow down, in San Diego and online across California.
What It Looks Like
The high-functioning version
Nothing is visibly failing. That is precisely what makes it hard to justify doing something about.
Sunday evenings that start tightening by mid-afternoon
Working through the tiredness because stopping feels worse
Short fuse at home, unfailingly composed at work
Sleep that never quite finishes the job
Small decisions becoming unreasonably heavy
Not remembering the last time something felt genuinely enjoyable
How It Goes
Where we start, and in what order
I don't make any guarantees about pace. What I can say is that we work on recovery before we work on output, because the reverse does not hold.
What the week really looks like hour by hour, where recovery is supposed to happen, and what has quietly been deleted from your life to make room for work.
Questions
Asked on most consults
Often paired with Anxiety Therapy.
Is burnout the same as stress?
Not quite. Stress is load. Burnout is what happens when the load never lifts and recovery stops working, the cynicism, the flatness, the sense that nothing you do lands. They need different handling.
I cannot change my job right now. Is therapy pointless?
No. Much of the work is about recovery, boundaries and how you carry the load, not about quitting. Some people do end up making a change; that is a decision you make, not one I make for you.
Do you work with physicians, attorneys and executives?
Yes. Most of my caseload is high-responsibility professionals whose work does not pause for them to fall apart in it.
Can we do this over telehealth around my schedule?
Telehealth is available Monday through Friday across California, plus limited in-person slots one Sunday a month at the San Diego office.
Free 15-Minute Consult
A quarter-hour is not a large ask of a hard week.
A free 15-minute call to talk through what the load actually is and where therapy would make a difference.
In person in San Diego, and by telehealth across California.