Overcoming Stress
What is Stress?
Quite simply, stress is psychological pressure that is healthy at a particular range level for each human being. Too little stress can result in lethargy or even depression, whilst an ideal level of stress helps people to perform at and optimum level, but when stress levels go beyond an individual's comfortable coping threshold then they may find things very difficult and unpleasant. If stress stimulus continues beyond an individual's comfortable stress coping level for a long time then this unhealthy level of stress can be harmful to a sufferer's physical and emotional health (sometimes leading to such problems as high blood pressure, anxiety and/or psychosomatic illness). Ten common symptoms of stress are listed below (a stressed person often has some or all of these).
- physical tension
- irritability or mood swings
- headaches or dizziness
- palpitations (racing heart)
- forgetfulness and clumsiness
- rashness or indecisiveness
- emotional withdrawal
- sleep problems (insomnia etc)
- addiction (smoking, comfort eating, alcohol etc)
- mood disorders (depression, anxiety etc)
please note: if you suffer from regular mood swings, dizziness, alcohol addiction, depressive feelings or anxiousness it is a good idea to consult your GP.
What is the Psychology of Stress?
Problem stress may be seen as that stress which is beyond an individual's current coping skills and outside their comfort zone. Happily whilst external stressors (workload, financial trouble, high responsibility, interpersonal trouble, personal environment problems etc) may sometimes be difficult to alter significantly a stressed individual's response to stress, their coping skills, their mind/body interaction and their personal organization skills can all generally be improved significantly to help them overcome their stress problem and to re-establish their comfort in life.
How do I Overcome Stress Problems?
There are many productive activities, changes and approaches that you can use to help yourself overcome stress problems. Some of these common sense changes are listed below;
- within reason lessen responsibilities
- minimize activities that you find stressful
- break problems down into manageable 'chunks'
- within reason only do one thing at a time
- increase activities that you find relaxing
- take up soothing exercise, such as tai chi
- learn & practice relaxation techniques
- be kind to your body and gentle to yourself
If you are suffering from problem stress it is generally advisable to consult a counsellor, psychotherapist or hypnotherapist who is skilled in stress management techniques (or of course a stress management consultant). A skilled eclectic therapist may help a client overcome their stress problem through various means. Depending on the therapist these may include helping them to understand their stress, helping them to learn to let go and relax (through relaxation techniques etc), helping them to become more assertive in protecting their reasonable boundaries (at home or work), helping them to overcome irrational thoughts and personal approaches, teaching them coping skills and personal organization methods and crucially helping them (through counselling) to find their own healthy and productive balance between the different responsibilities and needs within their life. Hypnotherapy and Neuro Linguistic Programming techniques may be particularly effective at helping clients to see work in a new more productive way and at improving their expectations and 'automatic' reactions to the realities of work situations, whilst CBT techniques may be particularly effective at helping clients improve their cognitive approach towards stressful situations.
This article was written by Patrick JM Nelson for the Fellowship of Eclectic Therapists and it is the property of that organization, but please feel free to copy and use this information for any beneficial purposes.