Stress, overwhelm & burnout
Whether you are still pushing through, already tipping into overwhelm, or long past empty, we work with the strain where it actually lives, in your body and nervous system, rather than adding another item to your list of things to manage. Sessions online, or in person in Stockholm.
The patterns behind burnout can begin much earlier, shaped by our relational and developmental experiences , by what we learned about our needs, our worth, boundaries, rest, achievement and taking care of ourselves.
One continuum, three names
Chronic stress
You are coping, but only just. Sleep is thinner, patience is shorter and rest never quite lands. The body is mobilised almost all of the time.
Overwhelm
Too much arriving at once. Thoughts race or go blank, decisions feel impossible and ordinary tasks trigger a wave of panic or tears.
Burnout
The mobilisation can no longer be sustained, so your system starts shutting things down. Numbness, cynicism, flatness and exhaustion that rest doesn't fix.
Most people arrive somewhere along this line rather than at a single point on it. The work is the same in principle: helping your nervous system come out of survival mode so that capacity can slowly return.
What it actually feels like
Stress rarely announces the moment it becomes too much. It arrives as a slow narrowing: fewer things feel interesting, more things feel heavy and the version of you that used to cope seems to have quietly left the room.
Underneath, your nervous system has been mobilised for far too long. When that mobilisation can no longer be sustained, the body does something intelligent and deeply unwelcome, it starts shutting things down to conserve what's left. That's the numbness, the flatness, the loss of motivation. It is not laziness or a character flaw.
Common signs
- Waking up already tired, no matter how long you slept
- A body that won't settle even when there is nothing to do
- Cynicism or numbness towards work you once cared about
- Small requests feeling like impossible demands
- Irritability that surprises you, then guilt afterwards
- Physical symptoms: tension, headaches, gut trouble, frequent illness
- A sense of going through the motions of your own life
How we work with it together
We slow down before we solve. In the first sessions we're not trying to fix your calendar. We're finding out what it's like to be you right now and whether your system can find even small moments of steadiness. Those moments are the raw material for everything else.
We work with the body, not only the story. You'll be invited to notice sensation, breath, posture, impulses to push or collapse. This isn't mystical, it's how we access the part of you that decides whether you're safe enough to rest. Somatic Experiencing® gives us a careful, titrated way to do that.
We look at what keeps refilling the tank with stress. Perfectionism, difficulty saying no, over-responsibility, the belief that your worth is your output. These usually have long histories and they respond better to understanding than to discipline.
We rebuild capacity, gradually. As your system regulates more easily, energy, humour and interest tend to come back on their own, often before your circumstances have fully changed.
If the depletion is parental burnout
Parental burnout follows the same physiology, with one difference: there is rarely a moment when nobody needs anything. Exhaustion sleep doesn't fix, a shorter fuse than you want to have, emotional distance from your own children and guilt about all three. Love is not the resource that runs out, regulation is.
Parenting & parental burnout →Online and in person in Stockholm, in English, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian or Montenegrin. One-to-one for adults, with small group formats also available.
Schedule a free introductory callQuestions people ask me
How is this different from stress management advice?
Advice assumes you have the capacity to act on it. Burnout is precisely a state of depleted capacity, which is why the usual suggestions can feel insulting. We start by helping your system step out of survival mode. Strategy becomes useful once there is energy to use it.
How long does recovery take?
It depends on how long you've been running empty and how much your circumstances can shift. Many people notice early changes in sleep, irritability or motivation within a few weeks. Rebuilding steady capacity usually takes several months of consistent work.
Do I need to take sick leave first?
No. Many of my clients are working while we meet. Decisions about sick leave are medical and belong with your doctor, but counselling can help you think clearly about what you actually need and put words to it.
Can we work in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian or Montenegrin?
Yes. I offer sessions in English and in our shared language, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian or Montenegrin. Exhaustion often makes a second language harder to hold and working in your mother tongue can take one weight off.