What Is Counseling? A Beginner's Guide to Therapy

Many physicians enter medicine with a deep drive to help others, but for those with unresolved childhood trauma, high achievement can become a survival strategy. Physician burnout is often more than exhaustion—it can reflect years of overfunctioning, perfectionism, emotional suppression, and self-abandonment. Healing begins when physicians recognize that caring for others does not have to come at the cost of their own nervous system, identity, and well-being.