Stress & Burnout
When you've been carrying pressure for too long, switching off can become surprisingly difficult.
You might be functioning on the outside while feeling completely depleted underneath.
Perhaps you're constantly thinking about what needs doing next. You find it difficult to relax, even when you have time to rest. Your mind keeps going. You feel wired but tired, easily overwhelmed, irritable or emotionally stretched. Sleep may not feel restorative, and things that used to feel manageable can suddenly feel like too much.
Or perhaps you've reached the point where you're not even particularly stressed anymore — you're just exhausted, disconnected and running on empty.
Stress and burnout are not simply about having too much to do. They can involve a prolonged state of pressure in which your mind and body have had too little opportunity to recover.
I work with people who want to understand and change their relationship with stress, using Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), tapping and other evidence-informed approaches to help reduce emotional intensity, create more internal space and develop a greater sense of choice in how they respond to pressure.
What does stress actually do to you?
Stress is a normal human response. It can help you respond to challenges, meet deadlines and deal with situations that require your attention.
The difficulty comes when the pressure doesn't switch off.
Stress can affect you physically, emotionally, mentally and behaviourally. You might experience muscle tension, headaches, digestive problems, changes in sleep, a racing heart, difficulty concentrating, persistent worrying or a feeling of being overwhelmed. You may become more irritable, withdraw from people, avoid things or find yourself working longer hours because you cannot seem to stop.
Sometimes the original source of pressure is obvious: work, caring responsibilities, relationship difficulties, financial worries, uncertainty or a major life change.
Sometimes it is more complicated.
You may have become accustomed to being the person who copes. You keep going because stopping feels uncomfortable. You tell yourself that other people have it worse. You push through tiredness, override your own needs and postpone rest until everything else is done.
Eventually, the problem isn't just what's happening around you. It's the accumulated response inside you.
That's where our work can begin.
Stress isn't always about what's happening now
One of the reasons I use EFT is that stress can have layers.
A present-day situation might trigger a much stronger emotional response than seems proportionate to what is actually happening.
For example:
A difficult email can create an immediate sense of panic.
A request from your boss can make you feel you have to say yes.
Taking time off can bring up guilt rather than relief.
Making a mistake can feel much more threatening than the situation warrants.
Someone else's disappointment can leave you feeling responsible for fixing everything.
Being visible, speaking up or asking for help can activate fear or discomfort.
Sometimes these reactions are connected to earlier experiences, beliefs or learned patterns around responsibility, safety, achievement, conflict or being seen.
This doesn't mean that everything needs to be traced back to childhood. It means we can become curious about what your system has learned to associate with pressure — and whether that response is still serving you.
If your stress has a deeper history, you may also find it useful to read my page on Trauma & Difficult Experiences.
Stress and burnout aren't quite the same
The terms stress and burnout are often used interchangeably, but there is an important distinction.
The World Health Organization defines burnout specifically in relation to chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. In ICD-11, it is characterised by exhaustion or depleted energy, increased mental distance or negativity towards work, and reduced professional efficacy. The WHO classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition.
Stress can feel like too much.
Burnout can feel like nothing left.
You may move between the two. You might spend months or years operating under pressure, repeatedly recovering just enough to carry on, until eventually your usual strategies stop working.
Burnout can affect motivation, concentration, sleep, relationships and your ability to function at your previous level. Recovery isn't simply a case of becoming more productive or learning to manage your time better.
The NHS specifically recommends addressing the causes of burnout rather than focusing only on the symptoms, and notes that recovery can take time.
How can EFT help with stress and burnout?
Clinical EFT involves gently tapping on specific points on the body while bringing attention to a particular thought, feeling, memory or physical sensation.
Rather than trying to force yourself to think positively, we start with what is actually happening.
You might notice:
"I can't switch off."
"There is too much to do."
"I have to keep going."
"If I stop, everything will fall apart."
"I should be coping better than this."
"I don't feel safe enough to slow down."
We then work with the emotional and physical intensity around those experiences.
The aim isn't to make difficult circumstances disappear. It's to reduce the intensity of the response so that you have more room to think, feel and choose what happens next.
Research into Clinical EFT is developing. A 2026 systematic review and network meta-analysis examined 17 randomised controlled trials involving more than 1,000 participants and reported large reductions in psychological stress, alongside small-to-moderate improvements in physiological stress markers. The researchers also noted the need for larger and longer-term studies to establish how durable these effects are.
A 2025 review specifically examining EFT and job stress and burnout found encouraging results across healthcare, education and corporate settings, while also highlighting limitations including small sample sizes, self-reported outcomes and limited long-term follow-up.
So I don't present tapping as a magic fix or promise that it will "cure" burnout.
I use it as a practical way of working with the emotional and physiological side of stress, alongside looking honestly at what needs to change in your life.
You can read more about what Clinical EFT is and how tapping works.
What we might work on
Stress and burnout can show up differently for different people. Our work might include:
Feeling constantly switched on
Finding it difficult to relax, slow down or transition from work into rest.
Overwhelm and mental load
The feeling that there are too many demands, decisions or responsibilities competing for your attention.
People-pleasing and over-responsibility
Feeling responsible for other people's feelings, needs or reactions, and finding it difficult to say no.
Perfectionism and pressure to perform
The belief that you have to get everything right, or that your worth depends on what you achieve.
Difficulty resting
Feeling guilty, restless or uncomfortable when you're not being productive.
Work-related stress
Presentations, deadlines, difficult relationships, workload, uncertainty, career change or feeling trapped in a role.
Emotional exhaustion
Feeling depleted, flat, tearful, irritable or disconnected after a prolonged period of pressure.
The difficulty of slowing down
Knowing you need rest but finding that your mind or body doesn't seem to know how to stop.
We can also work with the specific fears, memories or experiences that sit underneath your current stress response. If anxiety is a significant part of what you're experiencing, you may also want to explore EFT for Anxiety.
This isn't about becoming better at coping with too much
This distinction matters.
If your life is genuinely overloaded, you don't necessarily need to become better at tolerating an impossible amount of pressure.
Sometimes the work is about changing your response to pressure.
Sometimes it's about recognising what you need.
Sometimes it's about boundaries, asking for help, changing expectations or making a difficult decision.
And sometimes it's about discovering that you're carrying an old level of vigilance or responsibility into situations that no longer require it.
The goal isn't to become someone who can cope with anything.
It's to become more able to recognise what is happening, regulate your response and make choices that support you.
That might mean doing less.
It might mean saying no.
It might mean resting without earning it first.
It might mean having a difficult conversation.
It might mean allowing something to be imperfect.
Or it might simply mean getting to a place where you can sit down at the end of the day without feeling that you should still be doing something.
What working with me looks like
Sessions are one-to-one and take place online via Zoom.
We begin with what is happening for you now rather than following a rigid script. I'll help you identify the thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and situations that are contributing to the stress response, and we'll use Clinical EFT and other approaches where appropriate.
The work may stay with something very present-day — such as an overwhelming workload or a difficult conversation — or we may discover that a deeper pattern needs attention.
You don't need to arrive knowing exactly what is wrong.
And you don't need to be completely overwhelmed before asking for support.
If you've been carrying pressure for a long time, getting support before you reach breaking point can be a meaningful part of changing the pattern.
When additional support may be appropriate
EFT can be a useful complementary approach, but it isn't a substitute for medical care or appropriate mental health treatment.
If stress or burnout is significantly affecting your physical health, sleep, ability to function or mental health, speak with your GP or another appropriately qualified healthcare professional. The NHS recommends seeking support when burnout is affecting daily life or mental health.
If you are experiencing severe or persistent symptoms, we can also consider whether another form of professional support would be more appropriate or whether EFT could sit alongside it.
You don't have to wait until you have nothing left
You may have become very good at carrying pressure.
That doesn't necessarily mean your current way of coping is sustainable.
If you're tired of feeling permanently switched on, struggling to rest or noticing that the pressure is beginning to affect your health, relationships or enjoyment of life, there may be another way of responding.
Clinical EFT can give us a practical starting point for reducing the emotional charge around what you're carrying — and creating enough space to look at what needs to change.
Find out more about working with me or book a free 20-minute consultation.