Is Work-Related Stress Making You Feel Like Your Job Has Taken Over Your Life?

Are you experiencing job burnout? Does it feel like you need to be “on” 24-hours-a-day, 7 days a week to deliver work results and the pressure is too much?

Has your work become the most dominant feature of your life to the point where it seems like nothing else matters? Do you feel you no longer have balance between work life and personal life? Maybe you even feel that your life no longer belongs to you.

Are you profoundly disillusioned after spending years working toward your career only to find that now you’ve reached your goal, it’s not what you thought it would be? Maybe it seems as though you’ve failed and lost direction in life and your outlook has now become cynical and consumed by self-doubt.

Job Burnout And Work Stress Can Lead To Physical And Emotional Symptoms

If you have answered yes to any of the questions above, it’s possible that you are experiencing emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged work stress. You may also be suffering from related anxiety, depression, or panic attacks.

Luckily, with work stress therapy you can break the cycle of feeling overwhelmed. You can get a handle on your work stress and reclaim your life.

Work-Related Stress And Job Burnout Are Issues Worldwide

Workplace stress and burnout has been identified by the World Health Organization as a looming health crisis and is one of the biggest issues facing companies and employees today. As the demands put on employees seemingly escalate with each passing year, more and more of us experience stress at work. The stress we’re under often spills over into other parts of our lives so that we feel trapped by it.

The Pandemic Has Exacerbated Workplace Stress

A survey conducted by Indeed.com found that 80 percent of respondents believed Covid-19 had impacted workplace burnout. Of the respondents surveyed in 2021, 52 percent are experiencing burnout, compared to their pre-Covid-19 when only 43 percent of respondents reported job burnout.

The results are not surprising. Since the pandemic, work and personal life have become intertwined like never before. For those working from home especially, the demands of life blend together and make maintaining a work-life balance nearly impossible. 

The causes of stress in the workplace are numerous. Many of us experience dysfunctional workplace dynamics—such as working with micromanaging supervisors or undermining colleagues—which only amplifies our work stress. In other instances, a lack of control or unclear job expectations can keep us in a continual state of uncertainty which can cause job burnout.

Even if you have been dealing with stress at work for as long as you can remember, it’s never too late to change your mindset. Therapy can provide you with effective strategies for the management of work stress so you can improve your outlook.

Treatment For Workplace Stress Can Help You Achieve Work-Life Balance

Believe it or not, some levels of stress can be good for you—they can sharpen your mind and even make you feel good. However, when your body is subjected to repeated surges of stress hormones caused by your working conditions, it can leave you fatigued and mentally burned out. Prolonged stress can cause physical and emotional distress that affects your work performance and overall sense of well-being.

As a therapist who specializes in work stress therapy, I can assist you in developing beneficial strategies for dealing with stress at work. Getting help when you need it is a crucial step in building your resilience so that you can manage stress better in the long term.

What To Expect In Sessions

At our initial session, we will explore the ways your work affects your life and what about your experience with workplace stress that could or should be improved. I will teach you helpful coping methods for navigating the challenges that contribute to job burnout.

In ongoing sessions, we will assess your current management and communication skills. By playing to your strengths, our goal will be to optimize your performance at work as well as other areas of your life. Moreover, I will teach you strategies for setting boundaries so that you can maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Therapy for work stress can be an opportunity for self-examination. We will determine whether you are doing what you want to do and what your motivation for the job is—is it simply paying the bills or does it relate to your career? If it is contributing to negative physical and emotional symptoms that can’t be overcome through therapy, then it may be time to develop a strategy for finding a new job.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Can Help Manage The Symptoms Of Workplace Stress

Sometimes job burnout has to do with your perception that your job creates stress. CBT will examine your thought patterns related to work. If, for example, we identify a well-established pattern or behavior that goes back to long before you started working, there may be an opportunity to change that unhelpful pattern or behavior that contributes to your stress.

Let’s work together to identify and implement strategies that change your view of workplace stress so you can experience long-term relief. While you may not be able to control all of your circumstances, with my support you can make improvements by focusing on the aspects of life’s challenges you can manage. The important thing to remember is that you do not have to be alone on this journey.

But You May Be Wondering If Work Stress Therapy Is Right For You…

I don’t want anyone to know I am in therapy for work stress.

It is common for clients to want their therapy related to work stress to be confidential and to want to avoid disclosing details such as the name of the workplace or fellow employees. I follow all HIPAA guidelines and put your privacy first. With the exception of state laws that require me to disclose information when imminent self-harm has been verbalized, everything else will remain completely confidential. No one needs to know that you are in therapy to discuss workplace stress unless you choose to share it.

Everyone suffers from work-related stress—is treatment really necessary?

Although stress is a normal part of life that everyone experiences from time to time, work stress that is left unaddressed can have negative effects that impact your physical and mental health. If you are fatigued, depressed, irritable, or having trouble sleeping, you may want to take a closer look at what’s going on. Therapy will teach you practical tools and skills to help find relief from your stress at work so that you can regain work-life balance and start enjoying life again.

I don’t have time for work stress therapy.

You may not want to think about how long you have been affected by workplace stress or what the prognosis may be if you continue to go on without seeking intervention. Unchecked workplace stress can impact your physiology, emotions, and work performance. Over time this stress on your body can result in harm to your physical and mental health that cannot be reversed. 

Work-Life Balance Can Help You Cope With Job Burnout

When you learn how to manage your work stress and regain control over your life, a new outlook is possible. For a free, 15-minute consultation, please visit the contact page.

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