"All work and no play makes [Jane] a dull [girl]." — John Bay

Forget dull! That's the least of your worries. Try irritable, stressed-out, depressed and anxious. All work and no play makes for some serious health and relationship troubles.

Take for example Sandra (not her real name), a 36-year-old attorney for a high-profile law firm in Chicago. She typically works 65 hours a week, which includes several hours nearly every weekend. Sandra loves her job. It's intellectually challenging, well paying and she likes most of her coworkers.

But the long hours have come at a cost. Her three-year marriage has become increasingly strained and she feels depressed much of the time.

Sandra's troubles are typical of many of the clients I see in my private psychotherapy practice: women (and men), mostly in their 20s and 30s, who have great difficulty striking a balance between meeting the demands of their professional lives and finding fulfillment in their personal lives.

And it's not just professional women who feel a lack of work-life balance. Many stay-at-home mothers feel the same sort of imbalance, the only difference being that their "office" is their home.

Regardless of the situation, overworked women often have similar symptoms: depression, anxiety, irritability and conflict or stress in their family or romantic relationships. The effects can be damaging and far-reaching: divorce, custody battles, substance abuse and health-related problems.

Often, work-life imbalance masquerades as depression, anxiety or marital discord. That's why I like to ask my clients how many hours a week they work and how many hours a week they spend doing social or fun activities. The discrepancy sometimes startles them, as it did with Sandra.

Two major warning signs involve a recent upsurge in irritability with significant others and a decrease in energy level at home. Sleep and appetite are often affected as well; weight gain is common, as is interrupted sleep.

For many women, a work-life imbalance can evolve gradually, and so the problem often isn't identified until it has reached near-crisis proportions.