Mind
·
8 min read
Burnout isn’t a personality trait: early signs to take seriously
Burnout creeps in quietly. Our psychologists share the early signals they see most often — and why rest alone rarely fixes it.
Dr. Sofia Marin
Clinical Psychologist
Burnout is often described as exhaustion, but in clinic it rarely starts there. It tends to begin with small shifts that are easy to explain away: a shorter fuse, a weekend that no longer refills you, a growing distance from work you used to care about.
Early signals
Sunday evenings that feel heavier every week.
Forgetting small things you would normally handle easily.
Feeling detached or cynical about work or people you value.
Sleep that no longer feels restorative.
Why a holiday is not enough
Rest helps, but if the conditions that caused burnout are unchanged, symptoms tend to return within weeks. Recovery usually needs three things together: rest, boundaries that hold, and support to process what has happened.
Burnout is a signal about your circumstances, not a verdict on your character.
How we help
Our six-week Stress & Burnout programme pairs short-term therapy with a GP review of sleep, iron, thyroid and other physical factors that can look like burnout. You leave with a plan you can actually keep.
Questions about this?
Book a 30-minute visit with a clinician who has time to talk it through.
Written by
Dr. Sofia Marin
Sofia runs our stress and burnout programme and works side by side with our GPs so mental and physical health are never treated separately.
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