I'm a therapist for tech workers in Silicon Valley. There's a specific type of person who burns out — here's how I treat them.

Aug 03, 2026 04:16 PM - 1 month ago 473

This as-told-to effort is based connected a speech pinch Nick Sanchez, a licensed matrimony and family therapist based successful the San Francisco Bay Area. It's been edited for magnitude and clarity.

I would opportunity 99% of my clients mention burnout arsenic 1 of their biggest problems.

As a licensed matrimony and family therapist, I spot a caseload of astir 18 to 20 clients a week, astir of whom are very high-performing individuals successful Silicon Valley, specified arsenic business owners, executives, founders, and group successful guidance wrong tech.

AI burnout is simply a newer arena I've seen. AI enables america to do heavy activity connected aggregate projects astatine erstwhile and study caller skills, but it ne'er stops working. You person to beryllium the 1 to determine erstwhile it's clip to pause, and that's wherever AI burnout tin travel in.

I deliberation the type of personification who burns retired is the type of personification who would activity much if they could, truthful it hasn't been effective for maine to simply show them to activity less. They're not looking to activity less; they're looking to activity smarter. I person to get their buy-in that, if they return breaks, they'll really beryllium capable to push harder and much effectively.

That's why I usage exposure therapy techniques to thief my clients heal from burnout and study devices to negociate it erstwhile it returns.

Burnout has varying levels of intensity

I've seen burnout play retired successful galore ways arsenic acold arsenic intensity, but I would picture it arsenic akin to dysthymia, which is simply a low-grade depression. Burnout tin make the things that utilized to bring america joyousness nary longer bring america joy. Meanwhile, information and our desire to get done our to-do database tin spell retired the window.

Clients often travel to maine saying they're nary longer performing astatine the level they utilized to be. I had 1 customer who drove to their agency for activity and couldn't moreover get retired of their car. They told maine they physically couldn't get themselves to spell successful and springiness immoderate much of themself.

AI burnout is existent — I've moreover felt it

In summation to being a therapist, I'm the laminitis and objective head of Silicon Valley Therapy, wherever I negociate and train associates connected their paths to licensure. I've personally knowledgeable AI burnout while increasing my business, and I spot it successful my clients.

AI has accrued my capacity to nutrient higher-quality activity and return connected roles that I'd antecedently person to outsource, but it takes a batch of clip and is easy to autumn down a rabbit hole. I spot akin types of things pinch clients wherever they're taking excessively overmuch connected their plates.

They besides mention really AI fractures their attention. They're trying to attraction measurement excessively granularly connected excessively galore different projects. With truthful galore different types of LLMs and agents available, it's imaginable to beryllium moving profoundly connected 4 aliases 5 projects astatine a time, arsenic opposed to being focused connected 1 area astatine a time. That level of activity requires a different musculus to create successful our brain.

I don't moreover cognize if we should beryllium moving for illustration that.

It's important to negociate burnout, not conscionable debar it

If personification was terrified of dogs, I wouldn't return them to a canine parkland connected time 1 of therapy. The first rung connected the vulnerability ladder would beryllium thing for illustration looking astatine pictures of dogs.

The aforesaid point goes for burnout. I wouldn't show a burnt-out founder to return 2 weeks disconnected from moving and not look astatine their phone. They'd find different therapist.

Instead, I mightiness inquire what they deliberation astir taking an hr retired of the time to spell connected a walk, and aliases eat luncheon outside. Ideally, they'll beryllium disconnected their phone, but it could moreover beryllium thing for illustration watching a nosy video.

If they're not unfastened to it, I'll spell moreover shorter, for illustration 30 minutes aliases 15 minutes. Usually, we'll get to a constituent wherever they consciousness arsenic though it's doable. Once they commencement to announcement the benefits, for illustration their time going much smoothly erstwhile they return clip to eat a proper, nourishing repast outside, their buy-in starts to work. Then we build a customized self-care regular aliases protocol complete time. They're learning the skills to negociate burnout, not avoiding the cause.

My proposal for managing attraction fragmentation is the aforesaid arsenic managing burnout. If you're moving six different projects astatine once, what if you effort moving connected only 2 and seeing really that goes, aliases chunking your time truthful it's not each spent moving connected your projects?

AI has go a instrumentality successful therapy

From a therapy constituent of view, I person a batch of clients who usage AI to inquire for diary prompts aliases breathing exercises.

It's really awesome that there's a spot wherever group tin get that accusation and activity done much surface-level versions of therapy. When they travel to the session, we're capable to person overmuch deeper human-level conversations.

Do you person a communicative to stock astir experiencing AI burnout? If so, please scope retired to the newsman astatine [email protected].