Signs of Burnout and How EMDR Therapy Can Help You Heal

TLDR: If you’re exhausted, anxious, or running on empty, you might be experiencing burnout. EMDR therapy offers a way to heal deeply and rebuild balance from the inside out.

When Burnout Starts to Take Over Your Life

You’ve been trying to keep everything together, at work, at home, in your relationships, but lately, it feels like you’re falling apart.

You wake up already exhausted. You feel disconnected from the people you care about. You can’t remember the last time you truly let yourself rest without guilt.

You might be wondering:

Why do I feel tired all the time?
Why do I feel overwhelmed and like I can’t get anything done?

What’s wrong with me?

You’re not broken. You’re burnt out.

And while burnout is common, especially for those of us who struggle with anxiety and perfectionism, it’s not something you have to accept as your new normal. Recognizing the signs of burnout is the first step toward reclaiming your energy, peace, and balance.

Find yourself asking: “How long does it take to recover from burnout?” Get started healing today with EMDR therapy in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, or online EMDR therapy in Boston

Recognizing the Signs of Burnout

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It builds slowly and quietly, often in people who are used to feeling capable, present, and able to keep everything together. If you’re used to always getting things right, it can feel scary when you find yourself constantly dropping the ball.

Physical signs of burnout can look like:

• Exhaustion that rest doesn’t fix

• Headaches, tension, or getting sick all the time

• Feeling wired, anxious, or restless, but unable to focus

• Trouble sleeping or changes in appetite

Emotional signs of burnout might include:

• Feeling numb, irritable, or constantly on edge

• Losing motivation or joy in things that used to matter

• A sense of failure, guilt, or “not doing enough” no matter how hard you try

Behavioral signs of burnout often show up as:

• Withdrawing from people you love

• Overworking or staying “busy” to avoid feeling

• Saying yes to things when you really want to say no

• Struggling to slow down, be present, or take breaks

If you tend to take care of everyone else before yourself or if you learned early on that people-pleasing or being “the dependable one” made you feel safe or valued, it’s easy to miss these warning signs. Over time, the people-pleasing and perfectionism can feed the burnout, keeping you stuck in survival mode long after the danger has passed.

Why Ignoring Burnout Makes It Worse

Burnout doesn’t just go away with a weekend off. When you keep pushing through the exhaustion, your body and nervous system stay in a state of constant stress.

Over time, this can lead to chronic anxiety, depression, health problems, or relationship struggles. You may feel emotionally disconnected, short-tempered, or numb. And because burnout blurs your sense of what’s “normal,” it’s easy to convince yourself that this is just how life is.

But it’s not. Burnout is your body’s way of saying: something has to change.

How EMDR Therapy Helps With Burnout Recovery

Burnout recovery isn’t about trying harder—it’s about healing deeper.

In therapy, you have space to slow down, listen to what your body’s been trying to tell you, and finally let yourself rest. You’ll learn to set boundaries that protect your energy, release perfectionistic patterns, and reconnect with who you are beneath the constant doing.

EMDR therapy helps by addressing the emotional roots of burnout—the experiences and beliefs that make it so hard to stop pushing, pleasing, or proving yourself. Many clients realize that their burnout isn’t just about work or parenting—it’s about old wounds that taught them their worth depends on productivity or others’ approval. EMDR helps your nervous system process and release those old survival responses so you can finally feel calm, centered, and present.

For clients who want to experience meaningful change more quickly, EMDR Intensives can be especially effective. These focused sessions give you uninterrupted time and support to do deep, restorative healing in days rather than months—ideal for busy professionals or parents who need space to reset and begin again.

Start Your Burnout Recovery Journey

If you’re feeling exhausted, disconnected, or overwhelmed, you don’t have to keep going like this. You can recover. You can feel grounded and present again.

I help high-achieving women, parents, and LGBTQ+ clients heal from burnout through EMDR therapy and EMDR intensives, designed to help you release emotional overwhelm and rebuild balance from the inside out.

Rachel Duvall, certified EMDR therapist, licensed independent clinical social worker, anxiety, trauma and burnout recovery therapist in MA & FL

👉 Reach out today to schedule a consultation and take the first step toward sustainable burnout recovery and a life that feels calm, grounded, and yours again.

Rachel Duvall is a licensed therapist with over 14 years of experience supporting clients in New York City and now Great Barrington, MA. She specializes in EMDR therapy and EMDR therapy intensives for women, parents, and LGTBTQIA+ struggling with anxiety disorders, trauma, perfectionism, and low self-esteem. Rachel uses evidence-based, somatic, holistic therapy approaches like EMDR and Sensorimotor Therapy to help clients feel calmer and more confident in themselves and their relationships. At Rachel Duvall Psychotherapy, she is committed to providing compassionate, expert care both in-person and online for clients across Massachusetts and Florida.

Rachel provides in-person therapy in Great Barrington, MA, in addition to providing trauma therapy online for women and LGBTQIA+ located in the areas of Springfield, MA | Boston, MA | Newton, MA | Hingham, MA

Trauma therapy online for residents of Florida including Miami, FL | Tampa, FL | Sarasota, FL | Orlando, FL