Dr M’s Thoughts When she eventually sought help, she did not describe herself as someone who had “walked out” on her family. She described a period in which everything converged. Within a very short space of time, she was carrying the emotional and practical weight of her family, managing significant work pressures, grieving the deathContinue reading “When Acute Stress Becomes Collapse: A Clinical Reflection on Cumulative Trauma, Maternal Guilt, and Misunderstood Breakdown”
Tag Archives: Burnout in Working Women
Parents Matter Too
Psychological support for parents navigating neurodiversity Parents Matter Too — a weekly therapeutic reflection supporting parents of neurodiverse children. Week 4: Parental Burnout — When Exhaustion Becomes Emotional Numbness Beyond “Just Tired” There is a particular kind of exhaustion many parents struggle to describe. It is not simply physical tiredness. It is not solved byContinue reading “Parents Matter Too”
When Work Turns Toxic: Psychological Reflections on Burnout, Bullying and Gaslighting
Over the past few years, I have seen a marked increase in clients coming to therapy not because they “can’t cope with work,” but because work itself has become harmful. They describe workplaces that are chronically stressful, hostile, and dismissive of their wellbeing. What begins as a demanding job slowly shifts into something more insidious:Continue reading “When Work Turns Toxic: Psychological Reflections on Burnout, Bullying and Gaslighting”
Trauma-Informed Awareness in the Workplace: Language, Policy, and the Culture of Care
Introduction Workplaces, like people, hold stories. Within every organisation are individuals who carry experiences of stress, loss, and sometimes trauma — experiences that may be invisible but deeply shape how they perceive safety, trust, and belonging. Trauma-informed awareness in the workplace invites us to look beneath behaviour and performance, to recognise that what appears asContinue reading “Trauma-Informed Awareness in the Workplace: Language, Policy, and the Culture of Care”
When Academia and Education Drain the Soul: Burnout, Stress, and the Hidden Costs
Education should be about inspiration—sparking curiosity, sharing knowledge, and shaping futures. Whether you’re teaching preschoolers their first songs, guiding teenagers through exams, or mentoring university students on their research journey, the profession starts with passion. But what begins as a vocation can too easily turn into a heavy burden. Overwork, being overlooked, subtle gaslighting, andContinue reading “When Academia and Education Drain the Soul: Burnout, Stress, and the Hidden Costs”
“Energy Vampires”: Who’s Draining You and Why It Matters for Your Mental Health
Often we don’t realise how much emotional weight we are carrying until we finally speak it out loud. Clients often come in describing exhaustion, burnout, irritability — but without a clear reason why. Their work might be manageable. Their sleep, sufficient. Yet they feel chronically depleted. As part of a session we trace this feelingContinue reading ““Energy Vampires”: Who’s Draining You and Why It Matters for Your Mental Health”
When Life Gets You Down: What it means to be Browned Off, Fed Up, and the Quiet Ripples Through the Family
There comes a point in many people’s lives when they feel emotionally wrung out. Not quite depressed, but certainly not content. A quiet kind of exhaustion seeps in—resentment at daily demands, emotional flatness, the sense of going through the motions. You might mutter, “I’m just browned off,” or “I’m so fed up.” And while theseContinue reading “When Life Gets You Down: What it means to be Browned Off, Fed Up, and the Quiet Ripples Through the Family”
Dr M’s thoughts 