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Stress Therapy

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What is Stress?
Negative Consequences of Chronic Stress
How Do I Know I Am Stressed?
What Causes Stress?
How Do I Cope with and Reduce My Stress?
Can a Therapist Help Me?

Struggling with stress? CHE Behavioral Health Services is your answer with tailored stress therapy & counseling.

What is Stress?

Stress is the emotional, mental, and/or physical tension you may feel in response to a real or perceived threat or demand. Stress may also occur when you are facing a significant change or experiencing something new.

Everyone has experienced stress at one time or another. In fact, in today’s fast paced world, we often experience stressors weekly or even daily. Some examples include work demands, helping kids with last minute school projects, getting stuck in a traffic jam, economic and social worries, and so on.

Not all stress is bad. Planning a vacation or a wedding, for example, may be stressful at times, but is also something that brings you joy. Likewise, the stress you feel right before a performance or presentation at work may increase tension in the moment but may be beneficial by pushing you to perform at a higher level.

From an evolutionary perspective, our bodies have developed the stress response, also known as the “fight or flight” reaction, as a survival mechanism. When faced with a threat, your body’s nervous system kicks into gear – providing a shot of adrenaline, increasing your breathing, heart rate, and other physical changes to help you temporarily combat that “threat” to stay safe. When working properly, this stress response helps you by increasing your energy and making you more alert. For example, stress stimulates your reflexes so you can quickly step on the brake of your car to avoid a collision. Stress is beneficial in this scenario and our bodies are designed to utilize this type of acute stress.

The problem today is that more and more of our daily lives are experienced as stressful and our bodies cannot distinguish between physical and emotional threats. Our flight or fight system is being triggered by events that are not actually a life and death threat because all stress is experienced the same by the body. Thus, work stress sets off the same cascade of physical reactions in your body as a person physically threatening your life. Over time, this chronic stress has detrimental effects on our physical, emotional, and mental well-being. It can lead to depression, anxiety, and can greatly reduce your quality of life.

Negative Consequences of Chronic Stress

Physical consequences

Suppressed immune system
Digestive system issues
Reproductive system issues
Lower libido
Accelerated aging process
Increased risk for heart attack and heart disease
Increased risk for stroke
Increased aches and pains (tension headaches, muscle tension)
Chronic fatigue/lack of energy
Change of appetite; weight gain or loss

Emotional and mental health consequences

Increased risk for depression
Increased risk for anxiety
Increased irritability
Increased risk for substance abuse
Sleep problems

Cognitive impacts

Increased forgetfulness
Concentration difficulties
Poorer judgement and decision making
Slower processing (thinking) speed

How Do I Know I Am Stressed?

Most people will experience some combination of physical, emotional, or cognitive symptoms. Some symptoms include:

Physical symptoms: muscle tension, fatigue, upset stomach, change in appetite
Emotional symptoms: anxious, sad/depressed, worrying, irritable, sleep disturbance
Cognitive symptoms: negative thinking (catastrophizing), difficulty concentrating or making decisions, more forgetful
Behavioral symptoms: impulsivity, snapping at others, withdrawal, increased substance use

What Causes Stress?

The most common reported sources of stress include:

Work stress
Relationship stress (marital and others)
Divorce or the ending of a relationship
Significant losses (loss of loved one)
Significant life changes (move, new job, promotion)
Financial stress
Loss of a job
Health concerns (injury, chronic illness)
Caring for others (elderly or sick family members; sometimes called Caregiver Stress or Caregiver burden)

How Do I Cope with and Reduce My Stress?

The first step to working with high stress levels is to become aware of when you are experiencing stress! Sometimes, we get so used to feeling stressed that we do not even realize our shoulders are up in our ears, our heart is racing, and we are tightly wound. The second step is identifying your personal stressors. Stress impacts us all differently, so taking the time to recognize your individual stress responses generates greater awareness, which helps us identify our patterns and responses. A third step involves developing healthy coping skills. Strong coping skills build your resilience allowing you to successfully navigate life’s challenges.

Oftentimes, we do not think to tap into the coping skills we already have at our disposal. Take time to consider what positive coping skills you already use and use them. Does listening to music help? Going for a walk? Calling a loved one or friend? Cooking? Baking? Cleaning? Reading? Journaling?

In addition to tapping into your current coping skills, research has identified a number of additional effective stress management interventions. These include:

Practicing formal relaxation and mindfulness techniques
Addressing negative automatic thoughts and worry
Practicing gratitude and self-compassion
Increasing your social network and support
Increasing healthy habits (e.g. improved sleep, eating habits, and physical activity)

Can a Therapist Help Me?

If you are feeling overwhelmed by stress, or experiencing depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues associated with stress, working with a therapist can help. When working with a therapist, they will help you identify your personal sources of stress and help you learn ways to address these stressors more effectively. They may use a variety of different therapeutic approaches and techniques to help you learn to both reduce stress and learn to navigate those stressors that are an inevitable part of life.

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Anxiety

Anxiety is a sense of unease, nervousness, or dread that may occur before or during certain events (such as public speaking or unfamiliar situations), or that may be more general--often coloring your whole life. A certain level of anxiety can be healthy, helping keep us alert, aware, and motivating us to solve problems and perform well; however, if anxiety becomes so overwhelming and debilitating that it prevents you from engaging in and enjoying your life, you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder.

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Depression

Depression can feel unshakeable - like no matter what you do, you just can't quite feel better. You may feel tired a lot and have little desire to engage in activities you normally enjoy. Often, there may be no clear reason why you started feeling this way. If you identify with these feelings, please know you are not alone. Depression is quite common, and psychotherapy with a qualified clinician can help. You have taken the first step already by asking questions and seeking out services.

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Grief

Grief is a strong, sometimes overwhelming emotion, that stems from a loss. Some examples of loss include the death of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, job loss, or other traumatic experiences of loss. Grief may initially involve feeling numb but may also involve a range of emotions from deep sadness to anger to guilt. While most people will experience a significant loss at some point, grief is a deeply personal experience that feels profound and overtakes one's life. It is important to remember: everyone grieves differently, and there is no right or wrong way to grieve or right or wrong way to feel.

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Stress

Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension that, over time, can wear you down. Stress can be acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term) and is often the result of situations that make you feel powerless, frustrated, afraid, or in danger. Small amounts of stress can motivate us to get things done and perform as needed; however, if we are faced with stressors we do not believe we can cope with or long term stress, these can negatively impact mental and physical health.

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Anger

Anger is a normal emotion we all experience. Anger is often an emotion you feel when you perceive someone has deliberately “done you wrong” or when you feel mistreated or injured. People vary greatly as to what makes them angry, how often they feel angry, and how intense the feelings of anger may be. Anger becomes a problem when it becomes so overwhelming that it negatively impacts your relationships, jobs, legal standing, or your emotional well-being. If you feel you have trouble controlling your anger, this is often an indicator that your anger may be out of your control.

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Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is a person's overall sense of self-worth or personal value. It entails a self-evaluation and one's beliefs and judgments about her/himself. Unhealthy self-esteem occurs when a person feels badly about her/himself and lacks confidence. People with low-self esteem are often more self critical and hard on themselves. If you have low self-esteem, you may find you avoid pursuing meaningful activities or social activities because you feel inferior to others or are worried about rejection. This may lead you to take less initiative in your education or career, prevent you from seeking out meaningful relationships, and be more accepting of poor treatment from your family, friends, and romantic partners.

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Relationship Difficulties

Relationships enhance our lives, but they aren't always easy. Conflicts with partners, spouses, friends, and family members can leave you feeling sad, angry, and frustrated with little idea of how to solve the problem. Examining negative and repetitive relationship patterns can help identify where you may be stuck and move your relationships forward in a way that feels joyful and healthier.

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Trauma

Trauma comes in many forms and can occur when an event or series of events overwhelms the body and psyche's ability to cope, resulting in an inability to move past the trauma. PTSD is the most well-known diagnosis (cluster of symptoms) that can result from severe forms of trauma; however, it is not the only one. Trauma is highly individual and what may be traumatic for one person may not necessarily be for another. If you feel frightened, overwhelmed, and are experiencing constant triggers, teletherapy can help.

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Systemic Oppression and Discrimination

Research consistently shows that our social environment and life experiences have a significant impact on mental health and that groups who suffer social disadvantage, discrimination, and oppression have higher rates of mental distress. Generally speaking, systemic oppression and discrimination occurs when the laws of a society create unequal treatment of specific groups of people (i.e, racial, gender, ethnic, sexuality, physical ability, to name a few). It is the mistreatment of groups of people enforced by the institutions of society. Because it is “systemic,” it can often go unrecognized.

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Other

Life difficulties can manifest in innumerable ways. If you feel you can benefit from support in the service of your mental health, you do not need a specific diagnosis to reach out. Teletherapy can help with any number of life stressors and conditions. Teletherapy is not just for the treatment of a specific disorder, though it can be for that as well. Teletherapy is also for those looking to explore their lives in fuller detail as a way of relieving patterns and symptoms that feel overwhelming and unwanted. Self-growth and understanding are often reasons people seek out therapy - to work on improving their relationships, understanding one's identity and values and living a life consistent with those values, and learning healthy ways to cope with life's inevitable ups and downs.