Depression & Burnout
For when the flatness has set in and nothing seems to shift it. You're getting through the days but not much more than that. Something underneath isn't working, and you can't quite put your finger on what it is.
Sweetnam Psychology offers therapy for depression and burnout in person in Kingscliff NSW, Miami on the Gold Coast, and via Telehealth psychology sessions Australia wide.
Recognising the SignsHow it shows up?
Depression and burnout often travel together. You might feel exhausted but unable to rest, emotionally numb, cynical about work or life, or caught in a cycle where nothing feels worth the effort.
Running on empty
Rest isn't helping. Even after time off, you wake up depleted. Your reserves are tapped.
Lost meaning
The things that used to matter feel hollow. Work you loved drains you. Hobbies don't spark joy. You can't remember the last time something felt genuinely good.
Functioning but not living
You show up, get through the day, and collapse. You're operating on fumes and nobody around you seems to notice.
Caught between knowing and being unable
You know something needs to change but feel paralysed. Overwhelm makes even small decisions feel impossible.
Emotional flatness
Not sadness exactly. More like nothing. A muted, grey quality to everything. You're going through the motions but not really present in your own life.
A shorter fuse than usual
Irritability that feels disproportionate. Snapping at people you care about. A low tolerance for things that didn't used to bother you. This one often surprises people, but it's more common in depression than most realise.
Withdrawing
Cancelling plans, not returning messages, needing to be alone more than usual. Sometimes it feels like self-protection. Sometimes it just makes everything lonelier.
My approach
Depression and burnout in my work are rarely just about what's happening on the surface. The flatness, the exhaustion, the lost motivation are real and they deserve to be taken seriously. But they're usually telling us something about what's been happening underneath for a long time.
People who are depressed or burned out have often been running hard for years. Holding things together, meeting other people's needs, pushing through. At some point the system can't sustain it anymore. What looks like emptiness is often the result of emotions that have had nowhere to go for a very long time.
The work starts in the present. What's happening right now, what's triggering the flatness or the depletion today, is where we begin. There are always current pressures and relationships feeding it. We work with those directly, and use them to understand the deeper patterns that have been running underneath.
Take The Next StepReady to look deeper?
If the flatness has been there a while and nothing has shifted it, that's worth exploring.