For many people, work has long ceased to be just a source of income – it has become part of identity, a measure of personal value, and a way to confirm one’s own worth. Dr. Daniel Reinhardt points out that it is precisely within the professional role that the first signs of deep exhaustion most often hide – when a person continues to “hold on” outwardly but has already lost an inner sense of meaning. In the practice of MindCareCenter, such states frequently become the starting point for seeking help.
Often a person continues to function effectively on the outside – completing tasks, meeting deadlines, demonstrating involvement. Yet inside, a sense of emptiness, emotional burnout, and detachment from one’s work emerges. According to Dr. Reinhardt’s observations, in these states it is not motivation itself that suffers most, but the connection between work and personal meaning. Activity stops being experienced as a choice and begins to feel like an unavoidable obligation.
At MindCareCenter, we view work overload not as a time-management issue, but as a signal of a deeper internal conflict. Frequently, it is rooted in prolonged disregard for personal boundaries, the replacement of inner needs with external expectations, or the belief that a person’s value is determined solely by results. Under such conditions, the psyche gradually loses the ability to recover, even when the workload is formally reduced.
Our psychologists emphasize that the loss of meaning in one’s profession rarely occurs suddenly. It is a gradual process in which a person step by step moves away from themselves, adapting to the demands of the environment, the market, or an internal critic. Work may remain “suitable” by all rational criteria, yet it stops being felt as a living part of life. This is where an inner dead end and a sense of emotional depletion take shape.
Therapeutic work at MindCareCenter is aimed at restoring a subjective relationship with professional activity. We do not seek to immediately change jobs or push toward drastic decisions. First, it is essential to reconnect with what is actually happening inside – what emotions work evokes, where tension arises, and where responsiveness has long been absent. This gradually restores the ability to distinguish between fatigue, resistance, and loss of interest.
As therapy progresses, it becomes possible to reconsider professional identity without destroying it. A person begins to see themselves not only through the lens of a role or position, but as a more integrated individual with multiple sources of meaning. At MindCareCenter, we observe how this reduces internal pressure and brings back a sense of freedom of choice – even when external circumstances remain unchanged.
Special attention is given to working with beliefs about being “irreplaceable,” the fear of stopping, and the conviction that rest equals weakness. These mechanisms often sustain work overload for years. In therapy, they gradually lose their rigidity, freeing space for a more sustainable and healthy relationship with professional life.
Professional identity can be a resource, but it should not become the sole support. At Mind Care Center, we help restore balance between activity and inner life – so that work ceases to be a source of constant pressure and takes its place within a broader personal context.
Previously, we wrote about how self-care without guilt helps build a sustainable practice of self-support and restore inner resources.