Why Some Therapists Burn Out—and Others Don’t!
Today a therapist asked me if I found some pointer in my research that protects therapists from burnout. I confess I had never looked at this aspect in my data. Therefore, I compared therapists who reported no or low burnout (burnout score < 3) vs those who reported moderate or more burnout (burnout score ≥3).
The biggest differences weren’t in what they struggle with but in how their work is structured and supported.
Across both groups, client work is emotionally demanding. Both groups face difficult material, and both mention the intensity of holding emotional space for others. Burnout didn’t seem to come from the presence of difficult work; it came from what surrounded it.
Low-burnout therapists seem to have more emotional buffering.
A striking pattern was how often the low-burnout group mentioned peer supervision, community, and shared spaces to process the emotional load. For some, weekly peer supervision was described as the “cornerstone” of their practice. Having a predictable place to decompress, think aloud, and not carry everything alone seems to function as a protective buffer.
They also tend to have clearer boundaries around their effort.
Low-burnout therapists describe taking breaks, pacing themselves, and having a rough rhythm for how they organise their week. They are more likely to compartmentalise tasks. Clinical work in one box, everything else in another. They did not let the “everything else” grow unbounded.
This doesn’t mean they have less to do; it means they have more structure around what they do.
Low-burnout therapists often rely on simple systems that prevent overload.
They mention things like templates, small bits of software, or routines that help them organise admin or communications efficiently. Not because they love admin; but because they don’t let the peripheral parts of the job become a constant mental drain.
Admin still exists, but it’s contained, not constantly seeping into evenings and weekends.
The higher-burnout group, in contrast, often described admin as something that piles up, something that sits in the background until it becomes overwhelming. It’s not that they do wildly more admin; it’s that it intrudes more and is woven into a broader sense of overload.
The emotional heaviness of the caseload plays a major role.
Therapists in the higher-burnout group mentioned trauma-heavy work more frequently. Combined with fewer boundaries and less support, the emotional cost accumulates quickly. It creates a kind of cognitive and emotional “debt” that is hard to repay.
Stability (financial, emotional, and logistical) seems protective.
Low-burnout therapists often referenced wanting clearer guidance, practical support, or stable roles (e.g., salaried posts). Their concerns are relatively modest and grounded.
Higher-burnout therapists asked for more fundamental changes: mixed caseloads, fewer trauma clients, fewer hours, administrative help, even financial subsidies.
This suggests that those with lower burnout feel more secure, while those with higher burnout feel like they’re just about holding everything together.
Conclusion
In summary, therapists with lower burnout aren’t doing radically different work. They just have better emotional scaffolding, clearer boundaries, and small systems that stop the non-clinical parts of the job from bleeding into everything else.
I’m Dr. Sriram Ravichandran, a clinician, academic, and founder who believes technology should make human care more human, not less. I’m building HearMeNow to change that story.
It’s an AI-powered companion that helps therapists manage their practice with ease — summarising sessions, tracking mood trends, organising schedules — so they can return to what matters: being present.