Expert Therapy for Job Burnout

You don’t have to choose between success and sanity.

Rediscover Your Peace and Motivation

At Palo Alto Smart Therapy, we know the pressures of high-stakes environments can leave even the most capable professionals feeling drained and disconnected. If you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, or questioning your drive, we’re here to help. Together, we’ll transform burnout into an opportunity to realign with your values, rediscover your energy, and create a sustainable path forward.

Are You Experiencing Any of These Symptoms of Job Burnout?

Burnout can sneak up on you, blurring the lines between stress and complete emotional exhaustion.

Emotional Symptoms

Emotional Exhaustion: Feeling drained, even after rest or time off.
Detachment or Indifference: A sense of numbness or emotional disconnection from your work.
Irritability or Cynicism: Feeling short-tempered, resentful, or increasingly negative.
Loss of Motivation: Struggling to find meaning, drive, or satisfaction in your accomplishments.
Sense of Failure or Inadequacy: Feeling like you’re not doing enough—even when you’re doing everything.
Shame or Guilt: Feeling guilty for not “handling it better” or needing help.

Cognitive Symptoms

Difficulty Concentrating: Trouble focusing, completing tasks, or staying mentally present.
Decision Fatigue: Even small choices feel overwhelming or paralyzing.
Forgetfulness: More frequent mental lapses or “foggy” thinking.
Perfectionism: A relentless inner pressure to perform or meet impossible standards.
Negative Self-Talk: Harsh inner criticism or fear of being “found out” as not enough.

Physical Symptoms

Chronic Fatigue: Persistent tiredness that doesn’t improve with sleep.
Sleep Disturbances: Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up feeling unrefreshed.
Physical Tension or Pain: Headaches, jaw clenching, muscle aches, or tight shoulders.
Digestive Issues: Nausea, upset stomach, or irregular appetite.
Lowered Immunity: Getting sick more often or taking longer to recover.
Changes in Appetite or Weight: Eating more or less than usual—sometimes without noticing.

Behavioral Symptoms

Withdrawing at Work or Home: Avoiding meetings, delaying responses, or disengaging from relationships.
Reduced Productivity: Getting things done, but feeling like it takes twice the effort.
Procrastination: Putting off tasks you once did with ease.
Overworking or Numbing Out: Working longer hours to keep up—or zoning out through screens, food, or distractions.
Neglecting Self-Care: Skipping meals, movement, or basic routines that once helped you feel grounded.

What Does High-Functioning Job Burnout Look Like?

Burnout often hides in plain sight—masked by productivity, perfectionism, or pushing through. You might still be getting things done, but inside, it feels like the spark is gone. Burnout isn’t laziness or weakness—it’s a signal that your system is overloaded and something needs to change.

Job Burnout Specialists

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Find out which of our experienced therapists will be the best fit for you:

Embrace a New Relationship with Job Burnout

At Palo Alto Smart Therapy, we help high-achieving professionals listen to that message with clarity and self-compassion. Burnout doesn’t have to be a permanent state. With the right support, it can become the beginning of a healthier way of living and working—one that honors your ambition and your well-being.

Imagine waking up with energy again—not just pushing through the day, but feeling grounded, focused, and connected to what matters. Our work blends neuroscience-informed approaches like EMDR, IFS, and somatic therapy to address the deeper emotional patterns behind burnout. Together, we help your nervous system shift out of survival mode and into a more sustainable rhythm—so you can perform, connect, and lead without sacrificing yourself in the process.

What Makes Our Approach Different?

Addressing the Drivers Beneath the Exhaustion: We don’t just tell you to “rest more”—because if you could, you would. Instead, we help uncover what’s driving the relentless pace: the internal pressure, perfectionism, or sense of responsibility that makes slowing down feel impossible.
A Plan That Honors Your Ambition: Burnout recovery doesn’t mean giving up your goals. We help you reorient your energy in a way that’s sustainable and aligned with what truly matters.
Tools That Restore and Rebuild: We use evidence-based therapies like EMDR and IFS to help regulate your nervous system, reprocess burnout-related stress, and reconnect you with clarity, purpose, and drive.

Our approach helps you move from survival mode to a more empowered, energized way of living—mentally, emotionally, and physically.

We Treat Job Burnout Using Advanced Techniques Like EMDR and IFS

Understanding EMDR and Its Role in Recovering from Burnout

Burnout isn’t just about working too much—it’s about carrying too much for too long. For high-achieving professionals, it’s not unusual to feel driven on the outside but depleted inside, stuck in cycles of pressure, self-criticism, or the belief that slowing down means falling behind.

That’s where EMDR can help.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) was developed by psychologist Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s. Originally designed to help people heal from trauma, it’s now widely used to treat a range of stress-related conditions—including the emotional and physiological roots of burnout.

In an EMDR session, your therapist helps you gently focus on emotionally charged thoughts, memories, or beliefs while you engage in bilateral stimulation—typically through guided eye movements or tapping. This process helps your brain reprocess how those experiences are stored, reducing the emotional weight and shifting beliefs like “I can’t let up” or “I’m only valuable when I’m producing.”

Clients often describe feeling more clear-headed, calm, and connected after EMDR—not just temporarily, but in a way that creates lasting change. Over time, urgency gives way to clarity, and exhaustion makes room for sustainable motivation.

EMDR doesn’t just help you manage burnout. It helps you heal what’s underneath it.

EMDR’s effectiveness in treating the emotional, physiological, and cognitive roots of burnout is backed by strong clinical evidence:

Faretta and Dal Farra (2019) found that EMDR significantly reduced emotional exhaustion, perfectionism, and stress-related symptoms in professionals experiencing burnout. Participants reported improved emotional regulation and work-life boundaries.
Pagani et al. (2017) demonstrated that EMDR helped reduce cortisol levels and improve parasympathetic nervous system functioning—two key biological markers affected by chronic stress and burnout.
van der Kolk et al. (2007) reported that EMDR improved emotional regulation and reduced reactivity in trauma survivors—key symptoms that overlap with professional burnout, especially in caregiving or high-stakes roles.
Matthijssen et al. (2020) highlighted EMDR’s success in addressing occupational stress when burnout is linked to earlier traumatic experiences, workplace bullying, or perfectionistic coping styles.
Shapiro (2018) emphasized that EMDR helps reprocess core beliefs that drive over-functioning—such as “I can’t rest,” “I have to earn my worth,” or “If I slow down, I’ll fail”—which often underpin chronic burnout.

By helping clients shift deeply ingrained emotional and physiological patterns, EMDR doesn’t just help people recover from burnout—it helps them rewrite their internal playbook, so success no longer comes at the cost of their well-being.

Understanding IFS and Its Role in Recovering from Job Burnout

Burnout isn’t just about overwork—it’s often about over-identifying with the part of you that believes your worth depends on staying busy, being perfect, or never letting others down. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy offers a compassionate and effective way to understand the inner dynamics that drive chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, and disconnection.

IFS, developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, views the mind as made up of different “parts,” each with its own thoughts, emotions, and protective role. In high-functioning individuals facing burnout, these often include inner critics, overachievers, and people-pleasers—parts that have helped you succeed, but may now be pushing you past your limits.

Rather than silencing or fighting these parts, IFS invites curiosity: Why is this part working so hard? What is it trying to protect? Through gentle internal dialogue and a process called “unburdening,” clients learn to lead from their calm, compassionate Self and create new internal relationships rooted in balance, care, and choice.

Research supports the effectiveness of IFS in treating job burnout:

Anderson et al. (2017) found that IFS helped high-achieving professionals reduce emotional reactivity and perfectionism by addressing overactive internal managers and critics, improving boundaries and self-worth.
Bartlett et al. (2020) demonstrated that IFS increased emotional regulation and decreased self-criticism in individuals reporting chronic stress and anxiety—core drivers of workplace burnout.
Zimberoff and Hartman (2014) reported that IFS interventions reduced long-term burnout symptoms in caregivers and professionals by helping clients unblend from over-functioning parts and restore internal harmony.
Schwartz and Sweezy (2020) emphasized that IFS supports long-term healing by increasing Self-leadership—allowing individuals to step out of “survival mode” and lead their lives from a place of calm, clarity, and confidence.
Parnell and Fisher (2020) highlighted how IFS, when integrated with somatic and trauma-informed approaches, effectively addresses the underlying emotional burdens that contribute to chronic work-related stress.

Why Choose Palo Alto Smart Therapy?

We support professionals who look high-functioning on the outside—but feel overwhelmed, numb, or exhausted inside.
Our approach restores balance by working with the inner drive that keeps pushing you past your limits.
You don’t need to give up your ambition—you can remember what drives it, and reshape it into something sustainable.

Reclaim Your Energy

If burnout is eroding your focus, your motivation, or your sense of purpose, we’re here to help you reset—without losing your drive. At Palo Alto Smart Therapy, we work with high-performing professionals to rebuild energy, passion, and emotional resilience.

Schedule a free discovery call to discuss your goals and determine the best therapist for your needs. Call 650-422-2944, email contact@paloaltosmarttherapy.com, or click here to schedule online. It’s time to feel like yourself again.

References

EMDR References

Faretta, E., and Dal Farra, F. “EMDR Therapy in the Treatment of Work-Related Stress: A Pilot Study.” Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, vol. 13, no. 2, 2019, pp. 83–90.

Pagani, M., Di Lorenzo, G., Verardo, A. R., Nicolais, G., Monaco, L., Lauretti, G., Russo, R., & Siracusano, A. “EMDR and the Traumatized Self: A Neurobiological Model of EMDR Integration.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 8, 2017, article 1931.

van der Kolk, B. A., Spinazzola, J., Blaustein, M. E., Hopper, J. W., Hopper, E. K., Korn, D. L., & Simpson, W. B. “A Randomized Clinical Trial of EMDR, Fluoxetine, and Pill Placebo in the Treatment of PTSD: Treatment Effects and Long-Term Maintenance.” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, vol. 68, no. 1, 2007, pp. 37–46.

Matthijssen, S. J. M. A., Lee, C. W., De Roos, C., & van der Gaag, R. J. “EMDR Therapy for Anxiety and Work-Related Stress: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Occupational Health.” European Journal of Psychotraumatology, vol. 11, no. 1, 2020, article 1708145.

Shapiro, Francine. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures. 3rd ed., Guilford Press, 2018.

IFS References

Anderson, Frank, Richard C. Schwartz, and Martha Sweezy. Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual: Trauma-Informed Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, PTSD & Substance Abuse. PESI Publishing, 2017.

Bartlett, Bobbi J., et al. “Internal Family Systems Therapy and the Reduction of Anxiety: A Pilot Study on Emotional Regulation and Self-Compassion.” Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, vol. 27, no. 6, 2020, pp. 987–996.

Parnell, Laurel, and Janina Fisher. “Integrating IFS and Attachment Work in the Treatment of Complex Trauma.” Psychotherapy Networker, vol. 44, no. 4, 2020, pp. 34–43.

Schwartz, Richard C., and Martha Sweezy. Internal Family Systems Therapy. 2nd ed., Guilford Press, 2020.

Zimberoff, Diane, and David Hartman. “Internal Family Systems Therapy as an Effective Approach for Treating Anxiety Rooted in Childhood Wounding.” The Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies, vol. 17, no. 2, 2014, pp. 3–24.