As featured in Forbes
You’re successful by every measure. So why are you quietly falling apart?
The Great Unraveling names the hidden pattern behind it — the Career Distress Response — and shows the path back to Career Harmony.
“Dr. Angélica Pérez-Litwin gave a name to a pattern I'd been witnessing for years but could never fully explain.”
Sound familiar?
- You can't switch off, even on vacation.
- Rest helps for a day, then the pressure is back.
- A hard day at work feels like a verdict on who you are.
- You've tried boundaries, time off, even a new job. Something still feels off.
It may look like burnout. Often, it’s something deeper.
The Career Distress Response
The pattern no one told you about.
When achievement and identity become intertwined, your mind and body stay on high alert, even when you’re not working. Dr. Pérez-Litwin calls it the Career Distress Response, and it explains why rest and boundaries alone rarely fix it.
Take the Free Hidden Cost of Success Audit™The Career Harmony Practices™
A clinically grounded path for resolving Career Distress and cultivating Career Harmony. Four pillars. Ten practices.
Recognize
Build awareness. Identify the hidden patterns shaping your experience at work.
Regulate
Stabilize within. Move from overwhelmed to grounded.
Reconnect
Reconnect with yourself, your relationships, and your life beyond work.
Realign
Align your work with who you are — and how you want to live.
Praise
"Burnout" never quite fit what I was witnessing—in myself, and in the hundreds of C-suite leaders I've placed over my career. I had no language for it until this book. The crisis Dr. Pérez-Litwin describes is real, widespread, and hiding in plain sight.
Andrea Henderson
Executive Talent Strategist, Global Search Firm Partner
In leadership, we often celebrate achievement without fully acknowledging its human cost. The Great Unraveling brings clarity and compassion to that reality, offering a deeply insightful framework for understanding the internal pressures many high achievers carry.
Nathalie Rayes
Former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia
Reflecting intellectual rigor and hard-earned wisdom, this book provides a practical framework for greater self-awareness and personal growth. A timely and important contribution for physicians, advanced practice providers, and healthcare leaders.
Francine R. Gaillour, MD, MBA, PCC
Executive Director, Physician Coaching Institute
Free for readers
Out of Office: A Career Harmony Journal
100 practices to help you step away from work, quiet the pressure and reconnect with your life beyond it. A companion to The Great Unraveling.
About the author
Dr. Angélica Pérez-Litwin, PhD, MBA, is a psychologist, career strategist and executive advisor who has spent more than 20 years working with accomplished professionals. She is the founder of the Career Health Institute and Grounded Success, and has been featured on The Today Show, NPR, CNN, PBS and Forbes.
- Work with Angélica →
- Curious where your success is costing you most? Take the free 5-minute Hidden Cost of Success Audit™ →
