It’s easy to be overwhelmed by stress--our to-do lists can pile up, work can be demanding, and our relationships can strain us. Before we know it, stress can take over our lives.

However, addressing stress is not about making it disappear. It’s about acknowledging that stress is a normal part of life and identifying stress management techniques. If you’re looking for a stress management counselor, take advantage of Advekit’s therapist matching service. Stress management techniques can be very effective in reducing the negative effects of common types of stress.

What is Stress?

To understand how stress management works, it’s important to understand what exactly stress is. Many people inaccurately define stress as simply feeling overwhelmed or being too busy. Stress is a natural response to stressors in your life and can even be positive.

For each person, stressors are different. For some, it may be getting in a car accident. For others, having an important school or work assignment due can cause stress. Stressors can also be internal which means that people can create their own stress and anxiety by worrying or assuming the worst.

Stress is a drawn-out version of the fight or flight response. This response is a physical response to a challenging event that increases our awareness, heart rate, and breathing. Muscles can also become tense. Remaining in a fight or flight response for too long can cause stress.

How Does Stress Affect People?

Stress can present itself in many ways and often differs from person to person. People can exhibit symptoms of stress without even knowing that they’re stressed. Physical symptoms can include:

• Sleep loss
• Muscle pain
• Digestive issues
• Sweating
• Hair loss
• Loss of libido
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Weight gain or loss
• Heart problems
• High blood pressure
• Lessening of immune system function

Additionally, psychological effects can include:

• Trouble concentrating
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Restlessness
• Irritability
• Sadness
• Feeling insecure

Long-term chronic stress can lead to serious health issues as well. Managing your stress is the key to reducing these negative effects.

Therapy For Stress Management

Therapy for stress management is a great option to help manage levels of stress you’re experiencing. Therapists can help you identify coping techniques that will work best for you. Therapy will help you become self-aware so you will be able to understand what your stressors are and how to reduce the feelings they cause.

Many different types of therapy exist that can help with long-term stress, including:

• Psychotherapy: Talk therapy can be very helpful in managing stress. Having someone to talk to about what causes stress in your life and how it impacts it helps. Once you have awareness of your stress levels and the impacts, your therapist can work with you to implement techniques to better manage it.
• Behavior Therapy: Behavioral therapy, specifically Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can be very effective in reducing stress. CBT focuses on teaching clients to notice and change their negative thought patterns. For stress management, CBT can help individuals be kinder to themselves.
• Alternative Therapies: Many less traditional approaches to stress management exist. These include hypnotherapy, acupuncture, massage, and meditation. All of these techniques have proven to be quite effective in stress reduction in addition to going to therapy.

Therapy can help you reduce your stress by identifying what is causing it. Many people find that once they understand what their stressors are, they are able to understand how it affects them and implement daily coping mechanisms.

Get Matched →

Sources

https://psychcentral.com/lib/therapy-and-stress/

https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/

https://www.nami.org/find-support/living-with-a-mental-health-condition/managing-stres