More workers are breaking down from exhaustion and seeking medical leave for burnout, with many saying workplace pressure pushed them beyond their limits.
MORE Malaysians are openly admitting they are mentally and emotionally drained at work, even when they are not physically ill, with many turning to clinics not for medicine, but simply for permission to rest.
What was once quietly dismissed as “just stress” is increasingly being recognised as something more serious, especially among younger workers dealing with long hours, toxic workplaces, understaffing and emotional exhaustion.
A Threads post by user @xxnn00___ recently resonated widely online after she shared her deeply personal experience of seeking medical leave purely because of burnout.
She said she visited a clinic despite not being physically unwell because she felt “severely burnt out”.
Upon arriving, she asked a nurse whether it was possible to request sick leave simply to rest.
The nurse gently reassured her, patted her shoulder and told her to stay strong — a small gesture that immediately caused her to burst into tears.
She later reasoned with the doctor that she was exhausted, burnt out and sleep-deprived. After completing a stress assessment questionnaire, she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
“The doctor spoke to me very gently and asked, ‘Are you okay? Come, talk to me.’
That was when I completely broke down crying,” she wrote, adding that she had spent so long bottling everything up that she no longer knew how to explain what she was feeling.
She also thanked the doctor, describing her as kind, soft-spoken and sincere, saying the interaction alone made her feel slightly better.
The post quickly filled with responses from other Malaysians sharing similar experiences of emotional collapse linked to work pressure, toxic management and chronic exhaustion.
User @seindahnamayangdiberi recalled driving home during severe burnout while their body was shaking and their blood pressure had risen dangerously high.
They said the clinic initially assumed they were dealing with marital problems, only to discover work stress was the real cause. The doctor eventually issued three days of medical leave.
Another user, @aanggunnalaa, who previously worked in the food and beverage industry, said they endured continuous full shifts without rest days until even their eyes turned red from exhaustion.
“If I die tomorrow, my manager will just replace me with someone else,” the user wrote, while urging others not to feel guilty about taking leave for their health.
Others described reaching emotional breaking points in clinics after enduring years of workplace pressure. User @sitiaisyahmaarup shared that she once became so burnt out that she could no longer cry despite desperately wanting to.
After receiving medical leave from a compassionate doctor, she switched off her phone completely and ignored work messages for days before eventually resigning.
“We work to earn a living, not to die,” she said.
Meanwhile, user @2026.imdyinginside, a counselling teacher, admitted that even mental health professionals experience burnout and sometimes feel ashamed to acknowledge it themselves.
Others pointed to how normalised workplace burnout has quietly become.
User @urihouse.co described finally snapping after carrying the workload of an unhelpful colleague, while user @ainizainal said work stress became so overwhelming that they were hospitalised for three days after constantly hearing shouting in their head.
The growing number of similar stories reflects a wider shift in how Malaysians discuss mental exhaustion. Increasingly, workers are treating burnout not as laziness or weakness, but as a legitimate health issue requiring rest, support and, in some cases, medical intervention.
For many, the most memorable part was not the medical leave itself, but the rare experience of simply being asked a question they had not heard in a long time: “Are you okay?”
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