Am I Burnt Out? How To Tell If I'm In Burnout.
Updated: Sep 27
What are the Symptoms of Burnout?
The World Health Organization describes burnout as the result of chronic stress that hasn't been successfully managed. It groups the symptoms into three categories. You don't need to tick every box. Most people notice one area first, and the others creep in over time.
1. Exhaustion or depletion
This isn't ordinary tiredness that a good weekend fixes. It's a deep physical and/or emotional depletion that rest doesn't seem to touch. You might notice:
Waking up already tired, or dreading the day before it's begun
Needing more and more recovery time, so whole weekends or holidays go on just getting back to baseline
Feeling emotionally flat or "empty", with little left over for the people you care about
Getting ill more often, such as colds, headaches, stomach problems, aches and pains
2. Disengagement from your work
When something keeps draining us, we naturally start to pull back from it to protect ourselves. This can look like:
Feeling cynical, irritable or resentful about work, colleagues or clients
Caring less about things that used to matter to you (compassion fatigue)
Zoning out or going through the motions on autopilot
Putting off emails and calls, or counting down the hours until the end of the day
Daydreaming about quitting or escaping
3. Feeling less effective
Burnout chips away at your sense of competence, often without you noticing. You might find:
Tasks that used to feel easy now take huge effort
You're making more mistakes or forgetting things
Your inner critic is louder: "I'm not good enough" or "everyone else manages"
You're losing confidence or feeling like a fraud
You're working longer hours to make up for it but getting less done
Signs of an nervous system under prolonged stress
Alongside all three of the domains are signs that your nervous system has been stuck in "threat mode" for too long. This is where we shift from being stressed to tipping into burnout.
Sleep difficulties: trouble dropping off, waking at 3am with a racing mind, or sleeping a lot but never feeling refreshed
Anxiety: feeling on edge, jumpy or unable to switch off
Low mood: feeling flat, hopeless or tearful
Frustration: a shorter fuse than usual, snapping at loved ones
Brain fog: struggling to concentrate, find words or make decisions
Withdrawal: pulling away from friends, family and things you used to enjoy
Coping crutches: leaning more on caffeine, alcohol, sugar or social media scrolling to get through the day
Read more about what burnout actually feels like in this post.
Is it burnout or something else? Burnout overlaps with depression, anxiety and some physical health problems, such as thyroid issues, anaemia and perimenopause. If these symptoms sound familiar, it's worth checking in with your GP to rule other things out.
All of these are accompanied by signs of an overwhelmed nervous system such as sleep difficulties, anxiety, depressed mood, frustration, brain fog, becoming withdrawn. Read more about what burnout actually feels like in this post.
How To Quickly Assess for Burnout
This is a quick assessment tool that has been shown to give valid and reliable results when compared with the more detailed assessment tool (like the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)).
🚩A score 3 or over indicates burnout 🚩
The Assessment Question: Overall, based on your definition of burnout, how would you rate your level of burnout?
Rating Scale:
1 = I enjoy my work. I have no symptoms of burnout
2 = Occasionally I am under stress, and I don't always have as much energy as I once did, but I don't feel burnout out
3 = I am definitely burning out and have one or more symptoms of burnout, such as physical and emotional exhaustions.
4 = The symptoms of burnout that I'm experiencing won't go away. I think about frustration at work a lot.
5 = I feel completely burnout out and often wonder if I can go on. I am at the point where I may need some changes or may need to seek some sort of help.
Other assessment measures
Some people find it helpful to read and fill in the longer assessment tools as they highlight the different symptoms more fully. If you relate to this then here are the places you can access these types of measures for free:
The Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT): this is the burnout self-assessment tool that is divided into the domains of symptoms outlined above. You can access it on the web for free. Try this version.
The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: a free measure available by searching Google, this one separates into areas of life to see where you are affected most: personal life, work-life and client-related activities.
The Parental Burnout Measure: available here (scroll to the end of the article). This measure helps to highlight how burnout symptoms show up in parenting.
What Should I Do If I Scored a 3 or More?
Level 1: Self-help options:
Reading:
Burnout: How To Manage Your Nervous System Before It Manages You by Dr Claire Plumbly - this explains how the persistent demands of life grind us down and psychological tools to manage this. It's available as an audio book as well as paperback and kindle. It's a good option if you want to learn more but aren't sure you need therapy.
Podcasts:
Everyday Burnout Conversations with Flic Taylor: broad, relatable conversations for anyone who is burnout.
Pause, Purpose Play with Michaela Thomas: aimed at women with ADHD
Fried with Cait Donovan: in-depth exploration of the different layers contributing to burnout and tips for management.
You Are Not A Frog with Dr Rachel Morris: For burnt out health professionals
Self-help course:
Level 2: professional options:
Reach out to people who are in a position to help. This might be a manager or partner for practical help (many people in burnout have masked it for so long that they haven't let on to anyone that they're struggling). But also consider Occupational Health and making an appointment with your GP or self-referring to therapy. For therapy with the NHS you can contact your local talk-therapies service or get in touch with us so we can match you with a member of our therapy team if you would like to pursue this through a specialist independent provider. Link to our contact page to make an enquiry is here.
What Next:
👉Not sure what burnout feels like? Read this: What Does Burnout Feel Like?
👉Visit our Burnout Therapy Definitive Guide for more articles.
👉Download our 7 Step Roadmap Out of Burnout here.
👉Book a call with a member of our team to discuss how therapy could help you.
Reference:
Using a single item to measure burnout in primary care: a psychometric evaluation. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2015. Dolan et al.
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