Burnout and Stress
Therapy for burnout and chronic stress for adults who've been running past empty. In-person in Northbrook and online across Illinois and PSYPACT states.
Burnout and stress therapy in Northbrook, IL
Bedrock Psychology Group treats burnout and chronic stress in adults with evidence-based therapy that supports recovery and changes the patterns behind it, such as perfectionism, eroded boundaries, and over-identifying with work. Sessions are in person at our Northbrook office or by telehealth across Illinois, and in PSYPACT states with select clinicians. We're in-network with BCBS PPO and Aetna. To start, call (773) 389-2352 or send us a message.
What is burnout?
Burnout is the result of chronic, unmanaged stress that has depleted a person's resources past the point of normal recovery. It's not the same as having a hard week, or even a hard year. Burnout is cumulative, and one of its defining features is that the things that used to restore you stop working.
The term gets overused, which has made it harder for people to recognize when it's actually happening to them. Clinical burnout isn't dramatic. It's an erosion — of motivation, of energy, of the capacity to care about things that used to matter.
Signs and symptoms
Persistent fatigue that sleep doesn't fix. A growing sense of detachment from work, relationships, or activities that used to feel meaningful. Reduced performance despite increased effort. Cynicism or a dark, flat affect where there used to be investment. Difficulty concentrating or making decisions. Physical symptoms — headaches, muscle tension, recurring illness — without a clear medical cause. A private sense of emptiness that's hard to explain to people around you.
Burnout often masquerades as depression, and the two frequently co-occur. The distinction matters clinically because the treatment emphasis differs — burnout is more responsive to structural and behavioral interventions alongside therapy, while depression often requires addressing cognitive and emotional patterns more directly.
How this affects your life
Burnout tends to self-perpetuate. The depletion makes it harder to do the things that would restore you. Relationships suffer because you don't have the bandwidth to show up fully. Work suffers because you've lost access to the engagement that made you good at it. And the self-criticism compounds things — the sense that you should be able to push through, or that something is wrong with you for not being able to.
High-achieving adults are particularly vulnerable to burnout that goes unrecognized because their output often remains high even as their internal resources are depleted. By the time the performance drops, the tank has been empty for a long time.
Our approach at Bedrock
Burnout treatment at Bedrock addresses both the psychological and structural dimensions. Therapy helps identify the patterns — perfectionism, difficulty delegating, boundary erosion, identity overinvestment in work — that created the conditions for burnout and that will recreate it without intervention. The goal is not just recovery from the current episode but building a different relationship with the demands on your time and energy.
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Meet our therapists
What happens when you reach out
Schedule a free consultation
A quick call or email so we can hear what’s going on and answer your questions. Then we’ll match you with the therapist who fits best. No cost, no commitment.
Schedule directly with your therapist
From there, your therapist reaches out personally to get you set up on our client portal and book your first session. Going forward, you’ll work directly with your therapist, not a call center or front desk.
Begin treatment
Start working with your therapist, in person in Northbrook or online. The first few sessions are for getting to know each other and understanding what you want to work on.
You've been thinking about this long enough
Tell us a little about what's going on. We usually reply within a few hours, and always within one business day.
