When stress becomes chronic
Stress isn't always visible from the outside. You keep working and looking after others, but you sleep badly, get irritated over nothing, and your head is already full on Sunday evening. If nothing changes, exhaustion can set in.
I often see people going through:
- overload or conflict at work, or a loss of meaning;
- exhaustion close to burnout;
- a traumatic event: an accident, a bereavement, an assault, a redundancy;
- a life change: moving abroad, a birth, a separation, retirement;
- the wish to change a habit that is doing them harm.
Taking stock, then acting
The first sessions are about seeing clearly: what is draining you, what resources you still have, what depends on you and what doesn't. Aptitude and personality tests can complete this assessment, especially when work or career direction is part of the question.
We then work on concrete goals. Relaxation, controlled breathing and autogenic training help bring the pressure down day to day. The clinical interview helps you understand why certain situations affect you so much, and find other ways of responding.
Experience of the business world
I trained as both a psychologist and a sociologist, and I know how organisations work. That makes it easier to talk about hierarchy, workload or team conflict without having to explain everything from scratch. With a busy schedule, an evening video session is often the simplest option.