Stress and burnout

What are stress and burnout?

Stress is the body’s reaction to demands that outweigh the resources you have to meet them, and burnout is the exhaustion that can follow when that pressure runs on for months without real relief, most often at work. Both are common, and both can be worked with.

A certain amount of stress is ordinary and sometimes useful. It sharpens focus before a deadline or a difficult conversation, then fades once the pressure lifts. Burnout is different. It tends to build slowly, over months rather than days, and it does not lift on its own once the immediate task is finished. The World Health Organization’s ICD-11 describes burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical diagnosis, defined by three features: exhaustion, growing mental distance or cynicism about work, and a sense that effort no longer produces results. That classification matters clinically, but it does not make the experience any less disruptive. Many adults who come to us describing burnout also meet the threshold for anxiety or depression, because prolonged stress draws on the same physical and mental systems.

Signs of stress and burnout

Stress and burnout show up differently from person to person, but a few patterns come up often.

Physical signs

Disrupted sleep, tension headaches, a racing heart or tight chest, stomach problems, and a sense of being tired even after rest.

Emotional signs

Irritability, low mood, feeling flat or detached, dread about work or specific tasks, and a loss of enjoyment in things that used to interest you.

Behavioural signs

Withdrawing from colleagues, friends or family, procrastinating on things that used to feel manageable, working longer hours for less output, and reaching for alcohol or other habits to switch off.

On their own, any one of these can happen to anyone during a busy week. It is the combination, and how long it has been going on, that tends to point towards something worth addressing directly rather than waiting out.

What tends to drive stress and burnout in Brighton and East Sussex

The pressures that bring people to us are rarely unique to any one place, but the shape of life in Brighton adds its own texture. The city runs a fast commuter line, with Brighton station reaching London Victoria and London Bridge in around an hour and Gatwick in half that, so a good number of the adults we work with are managing a long working day that starts and ends on a train. Others are self-employed or working in the city’s creative, hospitality and education sectors, where income can be inconsistent even when the workload is not. Students at the local universities bring a different version of the same pressure, juggling study, part-time work and a new city. Whatever the source, the effect is often similar: a nervous system that never quite gets the signal to stand down, whether that’s felt in Hove, Kemptown, Preston Park, Hanover, Withdean or Portslade.

How therapy can help

Most of the pressure in your life is not optional, so therapy works on your relationship to it and on rebuilding the parts of daily life that stress erodes first, such as sleep, boundaries and time that is genuinely yours.

Cognitive behavioural therapy, which NICE recommends for the anxiety and depression that often accompany chronic stress, is one of the approaches we draw on. It looks at the thinking patterns and habits, such as constant checking of email or an inability to say no, that keep the stress response switched on. Acceptance and commitment therapy is useful where circumstances genuinely cannot change quickly, helping you act in line with what matters to you even while the pressure continues. Mindfulness-based approaches, which have a NICE-recognised evidence base for stress and relapse prevention in depression, can help with the physical grip of stress on the body. We choose between these, or combine them, based on what you bring to the first sessions rather than applying one model to everyone.

Our approach

We start by understanding the specific shape of your stress or burnout: what triggers it, what makes it worse, what you have already tried, and whether anxiety, low mood or something else is part of the picture. From there we agree what you want to be different, whether that is sleeping properly again, feeling able to switch off in the evening, or making a decision you have been putting off. We check in on progress as we go and adjust the approach rather than sticking rigidly to a plan that stops fitting.

What working with us involves

Sessions take place online with an adult, at a time you book in advance. Early sessions focus on understanding what has been happening and what has helped or not helped so far. Later sessions build specific skills and changes, such as noticing early warning signs before they escalate, setting workable boundaries, or working through unhelpful thinking patterns. We will update this site as the practice develops.

When to seek further support

It is worth getting in touch if stress has lasted more than a few weeks without easing, if you notice the signs above building rather than settling, or if burnout is affecting your ability to function at work or at home. You do not need a diagnosis or a referral to start.

If you are in crisis, or thinking of harming yourself, contact your GP, NHS 111, the Samaritans on 116 123, or go to your nearest A&E.