About Burnout

Burnout recovery doesn’t happen overnight, but with the proper support, you can regain your enthusiasm and avoid relapses. Axis Integrated Mental Health has offices in Boulder, Denver, and Westminster, Colorado, where experienced professionals offer treatments, coaching, and paid mental health leave if appropriate for people suffering from burnout. Call the Axis Integrated Mental Health office nearest you to discuss your burnout problems or schedule an in-person or telehealth consultation online today.

Axis Integrated Mental Health helps Coloradans recover from burnout with personalized care, coaching, and support available in Denver, Boulder, and Westminster.

Burnout Q&A

What is burnout?

Burnout is a mental state where you feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and unable to perform your usual tasks. Job burnout is the most common problem, but you can also experience parenting, sports, relationship, caregiver, and other forms of burnout.

Everyone experiences stress or anxiety sometimes, and that’s no bad thing — you need some stress to keep you motivated, prepare for danger, and optimize your performance. However, if you reach burnout, long-term pressure has become so severe it causes significant mental and physical issues.

This pressure has various causes, like an excessive workload, difficult co-workers, poor or abusive management, and an unsuitable role. You’re more likely to suffer from burnout if you don’t learn to manage stress effectively.

Burnout is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a condition that can seriously impact people’s quality of life. It was added to the ISD 10 as an official medical diagnosis but reclassified in ISD 11 as an occupational phenomenon. Regardless, it’s a genuine problem that’s similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or high-functioning depression (persistent depressive disorder) and can lead to persistent health problems in the future.

What symptoms does burnout cause?

Burnout symptoms can be mental and physical. Common examples include:

• Constantly feeling exhausted
• Brainfog
• More frequent illnesses
• Regular headaches
• Appetite changes
• Poor sleep and insomnia
• Difficulty concentrating
• Feeling like a failure
• Continual self-doubt
• Depression and anxiety
• Feeling detached from everything
• Lack of motivation
• Increasingly negative outlook
• Little joy or satisfaction with life
• Social isolation
• Procrastination
• Frustration and irritability

When burnout is severe, you might start avoiding your responsibilities, skipping out on work, or simply giving up and staying home.

What could be causing burnout?

Burnout is a chronic state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion driven by prolonged stress—often from work demands, caregiving, or untreated conditions like anxiety or ADHD.

Burnout isn’t just about being tired—it’s a chronic state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. At Axis Integrated Mental Health, we help you get to the root of what’s really driving your burnout so you can start to heal. Common causes of burnout include:

• Workplace stress – Long hours, high pressure, and lack of control or recognition can leave you feeling depleted, especially as so few leaders are trained to manage mental health appropriately in the workplace.

• Caregiver fatigue – Taking care of others—whether you’re a parent, partner, or healthcare worker—can lead to emotional overload. It can be difficult to even know what to do support a loved one who is experiencing depression.

• Undiagnosed ADHD – Many high-functioning professionals unknowingly struggle with focus, overwhelm, and executive dysfunction, mistaking it for “just stress.”

• Anxiety or depression – Mood disorders often manifest as exhaustion, apathy, or brain fog, especially when left untreated.

• Lack of boundaries – Saying “yes” to everything and everyone can wear down your mental health over time.

• Perfectionism and high self-expectations – Holding yourself to impossible standards can create a constant sense of failure and fatigue.

If you’re feeling drained, disconnected, or stuck in survival mode, it’s not just in your head—and it won’t go away on its own. Our psychiatric providers and therapists specialize in identifying burnout triggers and building personalized treatment plans that restore energy, clarity, and peace of mind

Burnout is a signal, not a weakness. Let’s find out what your brain is trying to tell you.

How do I overcome burnout?

The Axis Integrated Mental Health team uses a holistic approach, encouraging you to prioritize your mental and physical health. They create a personalized treatment program for you that focuses on tracking your stress levels so you learn what triggers stress and how to avoid it. This may include taking paid mental health leave for up to 3 months at 90% of pay, to which most Coloradoans are entitled. You can see if you qualify by taking our brief FAMLI Leave quiz .

Working with our integrative psychiatrist will help you get sleep and mood under control through a combination of medications, lifestyle changes, and advanced therapies. We also recommend working with a therapist, either at Axis or one you select, to help define what success might look and feel like for you.

For more information about burnout, please download our burnout survival guide.

With our collaborative care team, you learn to set boundaries, like saying no to activities you can’t manage, and focus on things you enjoy. You also benefit from stress management techniques, meditation, a healthy diet, and feel-good hormones produced by lifestyle changes that we can coach you on.

Advanced treatments like esketamine therapy or transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can help many patients who are trying to cope with high-functioning depression and are covered by most insurance plans.

Treatment may include integrative psychiatry, therapy, lifestyle strategies, and when appropriate, assistance with paid mental health leave—available in person and via telehealth.

Call Axis Integrated Mental Health to arrange a burnout assessment or paid mental health leave, or schedule a consultation online today.

FAQ

Q1. Is burnout and high-functioning depression the same thing?

No, burnout and high-functioning depression are distinct but overlapping conditions. Burnout is work-related exhaustion from chronic workplace stress that’s situational and may resolve with job changes. High-functioning depression is a persistent mood disorder affecting all life areas while maintaining daily responsibilities. Burnout focuses on work-related depletion; high-functioning depression involves ongoing sadness and hopelessness despite appearing successful. Both share symptoms like fatigue, irritability, and concentration issues, making professional psychiatric evaluation crucial for accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment including therapy, medication, or TMS therapy. Paid FAMLI leave can help provide relief and clarity as well.

Q2: Is burnout recognized as a medical condition?

Is burnout recognized as a medical condition?

Much debate surrounds burnout as a medical condition. Burnout is not officially recognized as a standalone medical diagnosis in the DSM-5, but the World Health Organization (WHO) classified it as an “occupational phenomenon” in 2019. In the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision),  burnoug is classified under code Z73.0 as “Burn-out state of vital exhaustion.” However, it’s classified as a “factor influencing health status“ rather than a mental disorder. The ICD-11 (effective 2022) updated burnout’s definition as an “occupational phenomenon” resulting from chronic workplace stress, with specific criteria including emotional exhaustion, cynicism toward work, and reduced professional efficacy. While burnout has official recognition for coding purposes, treatment typically focuses on related mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, or adjustment disorders that qualify for psychiatric care including therapy, medication management, and stress reduction interventions. Deep TMS, with an over 80% efficacy rate, can absolutely heal burnout, but would not be covered by commercial insurance payers unless the diagnosis is depression and typically, only after two other medications have been trialed and failed before.

Q3: What are the risks of not treating burnout?

Untreated burnout can lead to serious physical and mental health complications. Physical health risks include cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, weakened immune system, chronic fatigue, and sleep disorders. Mental health consequences include developing major depression, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, and increased risk of substance abuse. Cognitive effects involve memory problems, difficulty concentrating, and poor decision-making. Professional risks include decreased job performance, increased absenteeism, and career stagnation. Personal relationships suffer from irritability, emotional withdrawal, and social isolation. Long-term consequences may include chronic mental health conditions requiring intensive psychiatric treatment including antidepressant medication, therapy, or TMS therapy. Early intervention through stress management, cognitive behavioral therapy, and mental health support prevents escalation to more severe conditions.

Q4. Which professions suffer the highest rates of burnout?

Healthcare workers experience the highest burnout rates, with physicians, nurses, and mental health professionals leading at 60-80%. Emergency responders including paramedics, firefighters, and police officers face severe burnout from trauma exposure and high-stress environments. Teachers and educators report 40-50% burnout rates due to workload and administrative pressures. Social workers and human services professionals experience emotional exhaustion from challenging caseloads. Legal professionals, particularly public defenders and prosecutors, face high stress and burnout. While no real statistics are available for construction worker burnout, the fact that they die by suicide twice as often as other professions sugests that unreported burnout is high in this population. Common factors include emotional labor, high responsibility, work overload, and lack of control. These professions benefit from workplace mental health programs, stress management therapy, employee assistance programs, and preventive psychiatric care including counseling and burnout treatment.

Q5. If you take paid mental health leave for burnout, will you get fired?

Mental health leave for burnout is legally protected under Colorado law. The Colorado FAMLI (Family and Medical Leave Insurance) program, effective January 2024, provides up to 12 weeks paid leave for serious health conditions including mental health disorders and burnout-related conditions. Colorado’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act requires paid sick leave for mental health. Federal FMLA and ADA protections also apply, preventing discrimination and wrongful termination. Colorado employers cannot retaliate against employees taking protected mental health leave. FAMLI benefits pay up to $1,324 weekly during leave. Documentation from licensed mental health professionals is required to qualify. If burnout has developed into clinical depression or anxiety disorders, these conditions qualify for extended leave. Colorado employment law provides strong worker protections, but proper medical documentation through psychiatric evaluation is essential for leave approval and job protection.