If you are a female professional between the ages of 40 and 60, odds are you may not be feeling completely on top of your game. You excelled in academics, have been successful at building a career, lead employees in your discipline, mentor others, and may be considered an expert in your field. Yet, there is a creeping feeling of exhaustion for many women at this stage in life that doesn’t go away with a weekend off. Women admit to being snappy at home, feeling less than excited about activities or projects that would typically drive them, and experiencing a sneaking veil of brain fog. This feeling can be described as the perfect storm of “burnout” that is quietly causing many of the most brilliant professional women to rethink everything.
Midlife burnout isn't just about being "busy." It's a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that hasn't been managed, compounded by life's other demands. Oftentimes, women come to treatment with mood or cognition symptoms, with primary complaints being “stress” or job dissatisfaction. But there is more to it.
- Dramatic hormonal changes in midlife affect sleep, cognitive function ("brain fog"), and energy levels. A woman’s work life can be dramatically effected here.
- Midlife women are often in the "sandwich generation," juggling demanding careers while caring for both their children and aging parents.
- Women often carry the emotional labor at home and take on the organizational/mentoring roles at work, leading to resentment and exhaustion across both spaces.
How Do You Know When it’s Really Midlife Burnout?
- Chronic Fatigue: You wake up tired, even after a full night's sleep. Eight hours of sleep just isn’t enough.
- Increased Irritability and Loss of Motivation: You’re snapping at colleagues, or feel detached from your work. You have no emotional energy left for your family. You are "going through the motions".
- Brain Fog: You struggle with memory, lose your words in meetings, or struggle to concentrate. You start to wonder if you are capable of keeping up with your work demands. You find simple decisions difficult to make.
What Can We Do About It?
Seeking support is paramount. A skilled provider at Northeast Women’s Psychiatry can help you disentangle the contributing pieces of the puzzle. As a team, we can help you identify the action tools needed to feel more like yourself and get back to optimal functioning in the workplace and at home. We may find that hormonal or psychiatric medication treatment would be helpful. It may be that a woman needs good coaching or counseling in order to stay accountable to her action plan or to reevaluate professional values. Sometimes, we identify that a professional peer support group can be helpful in navigating burnout.
Midlife burnout for women is a clear signal that your previous way of living and working is no longer sustainable. It’s not about finding the energy to "work harder." It’s about stopping, reevaluating your values, and choosing a path that allows you to work—and live—from a place of purpose and joy, not depletion.