Burned-Out at 20

Giving Up: A short-short story

A Burned-Out Teacher: A short-short story

Burned Out in a Bureaucracy

A number of my clients feel burned out on their job. And it doesn't help that they're working at home because of COVID. My Psychology Today article today lists common complaints and my suggestions.

Preventing and Ameliorating Counselor Burnout

What has worked for me in preventing and ameliorating burnout may not work for you, but because I know best what’s worked for me, internally and externally, I can most accurately describe that. So that’s my focus in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

A Burned Out Physician: A mock career counseling session

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers a mock career counseling session that offers lessons not just for physicians and other health care providers but for others, for example, lawyers, social workers, teachers, as well as for counselors.

Career Change for Therapists, Counselors, and Coaches Who Want Out

Maybe you’ve had enough of listening to clients complain? Or of their yes-butting? Or no-showing? Or of pleading poverty when you sense it’s untrue? Or of not paying? Or of clients’ lack of progress?

You’ve tried or considered career tweaks.Alas, nothing sufficiently has assuaged your malaise. So you want out, but you’re scared: “What else could I do?” Would anyone pay me decent money to do something else?”

I offer some possibilities in my PsychologyToday.com article today. 

The Emotional Gas Tank: How job seekers can avoid running out of gas

Every job seeker starts their search with a full tank of emotional gas. With each rejection or getting ignored, some gas is burned. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today should boost your chances of landing a job before you run out of gas.

Burned Out: 22 questions that may help you identify baby steps up from burnout’s pit

You may think of the typical burnout as someone who’s been struggling to stay in the middle class. But burnout is an equal opportunity attacker. A number of my clients are seven-figure successful but felt burned out, empty, wondering whether all the effort was worth it. 

At the other end of the socioeconomic continuum, many people are burned out because they've been hold a job that sustains even a modest living and their personal life is equally dispiriting. 

Burnout can lead to undue sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll, and the sense that nothing matters, or at least is worth working hard for. Indeed, my Psychology Today article, I Don’t Care About Anything has received 270,000 views.

What’s a burnout to do?
Burnout tends to be so all-encompassing that it must be tackled a bite at a time. Perhaps the questions I ask in my PsychologyToday.com article today will help you identify your next bites

Exhausted After Work?

My most contented clients are not exhausted at the end of most work days. They’re usually just pleasantly tired but with enough energy to have a fulfilling after-work life.

Other clients say they need a lot of down time to recharge. So they do things like meditate, knit, and play video games. It has become clear to me that such approaches treat the symptom rather than the disease. When I probe, it often becomes clear that the client can change one or more things so they're not so drained by their work day. I list them in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Advice for Burned-Out Lawyers

Many lawyers burn out. The competition, ethical challenges, and heavy workload take a toll. And while most people attend law school hoping to “make a difference,” many attorneys end up doing work they don’t feel great about.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers some options.

A Burned-Out Occupational Therapist Thinks About Quitting

A burned-out occupational therapist called into my radio program.  I offer the edited transcript of our exchange as my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Silent Scream: The Quiet Alienation Inside Many People

I worry about the how-to article's pontification and aridity. So in some recent PsychologyToday.com articles, I've genre-bended: I've attempted to embed a psychological issue within a short-short story. For example, Slick William and Average Jane.  

Today's offering looks at a burned-out, alienated person.

My Career Coaching Clients' Year-End Musings

Here at year-end, I've asked some of my career coaching clients to take stock. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I post some their musings.

Advice to a Burned-Out Physician

In each installment of my PsychologyToday.com daily series, I respond to a composite letter that asks for my career advice. Today, I offer advice to a burned-out physician.

An Overwhelmed Law Student

My PsychologyToday.com article today consists of the transcript of the last of a career counseling session I conducted yesterday. I believe it offers lessons for helping professionals as well as nearly anyone.

Treating Sad Counselor Syndrome

It's not easy being a therapist, counselor, or coach. Progress may be slower than we'd like. We may absorb our clients' malaise. We may have to spend lots of time marketing when we'd rather counsel. We may give far more to our clients than our friends and family give to us.

So it's easy to understand why some therapists, counselors and coaches suffer from what I call Sad Counselor Syndrome. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I discuss how to address it.

Stories of Seclusion: A Physician Who Has Seen Too Much

My PsychologyToday.com series, Stories of Seclusion, tells composite stories of people who have spent much time alone.

Today's installment tells of an oncologist who has seen too much.