Emotional exhaustion: When your feelings feel overwhelming

Turning on the news or opening a newspaper to see local and world events can bring out strong emotions and stressors. In addition to the social unrest happening around the world, you may face personal challenges from a high-pressure job, financial stress or poverty, being a caregiver, parenting, grieving the death of a family member or friend, or a chronic illness.

You may wonder what's next or what else you can endure. With the sense of relentless struggles, you may begin to feel unwell and irritable, and struggle to concentrate and lack motivation. You may not even know what is causing these feelings. You can feel trapped or stuck. You're emotionally exhausted.

What is emotional exhaustion?

When stress from adverse or challenging events in life occur continually, you can find yourself in a state of feeling emotionally worn out and drained. This is called emotional exhaustion. For most people, emotional exhaustion tends to build up slowly over time. Emotional exhaustion includes emotional, physical and performance symptoms.

Emotional symptoms include:

• Anxiety
• Apathy
• Depression
• Feeling hopeless
• Feeling powerless or trapped
• Irritability
• Lack of focus or forgetfulness
• Lack of motivation
• Negative thinking
• Nervousness
• Tearfulness

Physical symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Lack of appetite
• Nausea or upset stomach
• Poor sleep
• Sore muscles or muscle tension

Performance symptoms include:

• Difficulty completing daily tasks for responsibilities
• Failing to meet deadlines
• Increased absences
• Isolation or avoidance
• Lower workplace commitment
• Performing work duties more slowly

How is emotional exhaustion treated?

You can address emotional exhaustion by recognizing the stressors you're able to minimize or eliminate. When you're unable to change a stressor because it's out of your control, it's crucial to focus on the present moment. In the present, many neutral or positive events are occurring. When you focus on these types of events, it gives perspective about what's happening around you. This allows you to shift your focus away from the stressors.

Your body often interprets stress as a threat to survival. When this happens, your brain releases stress hormones throughout your body, further contributing to your experience of emotional exhaustion. When you're able to focus on small neutral or positive events, your brain learns that the threat is not as dire as it may first seem. The amount of stress hormone released is decreased, and you're able to feel more emotionally balanced.

Other strategies to reduce emotional exhaustion include:

• Eating a healthy, balanced diet
• Eliminating or minimizing the stressor when possible
• Exercising
• Getting adequate sleep
• Identifying and challenging unhelpful thoughts and replacing them with balanced thoughts
• Practicing mindfulness to engage in the present moment

Talk with a mental health professional if you have signs of emotional exhaustion. They can help you sort through the causes and symptoms you're experiencing to determine a plan that will help you regain a sense of well-being.

Read more about self-care and coping:

• Finding joy in every phase of life
• 5, 4, 3, 2, 1: Countdown to take control of anxiety
• 5 tips to manage stress
• Discovering calm in the chaos
• Can expressing gratitude improve your mental, physical health?

Jolene Hanson is a clinical social worker in Psychiatry & Psychology in Mankato, Minnesota.