Stress Management
Stress can be caused by everything from small day-to-day issues, larger life hurdles, or when you have overextended yourself in some manner. While the average person does have some stress in his or her life and manages to go through daily activities just fine, stress can quickly become unmanageable. When this happens, you can suffer from major physical, mental and emotional health problems.
Symptoms & signs of extreme stress
- Inability to think about anything but the stressor
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Obsessing over ways to relieve yourself of the stressor
- Insomnia, or inability to fall back asleep after waking up at night
- Lack of ambition
- Headaches
- Fatigue
When is it time to get help?
If you are experiencing the symptoms of extreme stress, then stress is clearly interfering with your life. Sometimes the stress we experience is so routine and we become so accustomed to living with the symptoms that we don’t even realize that feeling like that is not normal! There is a myth form the 19th century about a frog in boiling water. According to the myth, if you put a frog in boiling water, it will try to hope out of it immediately in order to save its life. However, if you put a frog in cold water, then gradually increase the temperature of the water, it will become comfortable with its surroundings (the water temperature) and eventually be boiled alive. Sometimes, this metaphor can be applied to living with stress.
Stress management treatment methods
- Mindfulness therapy is an approach to treatment that focuses on how people’s thoughts, emotions, and beliefs influence their behaviour and how they perceive themselves, others, and the world. The ability to be in the moment, to acknowledge and regulate your emotions helps you to break free from negative thought patterns.
- Reality therapy generally believes that individuals choose their behaviour and as a result, are responsible for not only what they are doing, but also how they think and feel. Clients develop the psychological strength to evaluate their own behaviour and acquire more effective behaviour with the support of a warm and accepting counselling environment.
- Solution focused therapy views people as inherently strong and resilient, and capable of creating change and discovering solutions to their everyday problems.
What will I get out of treatment with Insight Psychological?
Removing yourself from situations that cause the stress is not always possible. In these cases, you will need to turn to stress management. This can consist of many different techniques and therapies, all of which will be decided upon by both you and your therapist. Once you begin to successfully manage the symptoms of extreme stress, you’ll wonder how you were able to live with it for as long as you did! Please contact us to learn more or to set up an appointment.
